"Everest", an account of a 1996 disaster on the world's most famous mountain, got the 72nd Venice film underway on a high note today with the USD 65-million production winning praise for its use of 3D technology to bring the majestic scale of the Himalayas to the silver screen.
Director Baltasar Kormakur's two-hour film recounts the events of May 10-11, 1996, when eight climbers died near the summit after being caught in ferocious blizzard conditions.
In particular it focuses on the internal dynamics and characters of two groups of guides and climbers, one led by New Zealander Rob Hall, played by Australian actor Jason Clarke, the other by American Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal).
Portrayed as equally talented but temperamentally contrasting, the two men were among those who died over the course of two days in which an unprecedented 34 people were attempting to reach the summit in conditions which ultimately resulted in a series of life-and-death decisions having to be made under almost unimaginable duress.
Hall, famously, was able to say goodbye to his pregnant wife, played in the film by Keira Knightley, via a combination of two-way radio and satellite phone, just before he perished.
Given that such poignant details of the tragedy were widely publicised at the time, the challenge for Kormakur was to retain viewers' attention despite most of them knowing how the story ends.
He has taken that on with a production that is part disaster movie, part thriller and part examination of the varying mindsets and motivations that lie behind the stock mountaineer's response to why one climbs a mountain: "because it's there".
The British-produced film includes sections shots in the Italian Dolomites, Kormakur's native Iceland and in Nepal -- something the director says was vital to both how the film looked and how the actors understood their roles.
