Thursday 12 February 2015

--/02/15 The Epic Of Everest (1924)

Absolutely stunning film.

Comprised entirely of silent footage taken during the Mallory and Irvine expedition of 1924.

I doubt I'm revealing much of a spoiler when I say it didn't end well.  Knowing the fate that befell the young men on the mountain, it makes the footage all the more poignant, particularly the early scenes featuring smiling, optimistic faces at the beginning of their challenge.

Although digitally remastered, it's hard to believe you're watching footage that is (almost) a century old. The skies, the mountain peaks, and the small, close details captured on film look almost as fresh as anything from the modern era.

There is a subtle ambient soundtrack played throughout the film that really adds to both the impressive, otherworldly landscape of wonder and the creeping, inescapable finality of how it will play out. A strangely disturbing mix of the ephemeral and the eternal. (Easily the most pretentious thing I've typed in years!)

Brilliant.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0219671/
10/10

Perkin.

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