Everest: A moving disaster movie that scales new heights

If you are like me, wondering why would anyone risks their lives, face the uncertainty of surviving the high altitude, frostbite and the icy coldness of Everest ... this movie will definitely tell you why.

That was the humourous answer to the million dollar question in this movie.

The year was 1996 when mountain climbing industry was highly commercialised and Everest was packed with enthusiastic mountaineers who can’t wait to conquer Everest and plant their flags, making contact with its peak.

Iceland-born film-maker, Baltasar Kormakur has successfully encapsulate the beauty and terror that awaits and behold Everest with the breathtaking landscape and facade of the mountain, detailed depiction of climbers, with different backgrounds and experiences, enduring the worst possible conditions, in an environment and surrounding that is capable to shut a human body and its system down.

Writer William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy have set up each character so well that their stories linger in the mind days after leaving the cinema. For instance, Sam Worthington (one of the guides) and Robin Wright (one of the mountaineer's wives) play small roles in the movie, but their strong characters give out a long-lasting and strong impact to the plot.

Jason Clarke plays Rob Hall, one of three guides for Adventure Consultants, whose eight clients include Texan, Beck Weathers played by Josh Brolin, who had been climbing for a decade; Doug Hansen, played by John Hawkes, an old-timer with a mission to prove that anyone can make their dreams come true and Japanese Yasuko Namba, played by Naoko Mori who want to make Everest as her seventh mountain to pursue.

At base camp, they meet Mountain Madness which represents another group of mountaineers who are also summiting on the same day. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the cool guide, Scott Fischer for this group.

With Everest jam-packed with mountaineers, both Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness join forces to climb Everest together. Their journey to the top was not at all pretty. The enormous amount of climbers present at one time and the ‘bipolar’ weather of snow storm and harsh icy wind, made their climb nearly impossible. Their lifelong obsession turned into a painstaking struggle for survival.

To me, the women in the movie are the ‘real’ stars. Though Keira Knightley’s (Jen) role as a pregnant wife to Rob, and was mostly conversing over the telephone, she was definitely the rock in the relationship. The same goes to Emily Watson who plays Helen Wilton, the base camp manager. Helen is the one who keeps everything organised, ensures every climbers keeps in contact and updates via walkie-talkie while they climb.

Everest is also a story of business where both expeditions are hungry for clients and good magazine reviews – the only marketing tool back then. The cleverest part about this 3D biographical disaster drama and adventure thriller film is that there was no trace of blame at all. And that the only villain here is Everest and its brutal blizzard.

Get you tissue paper ready because Everest might be your tear-jerking movie.

Cast: Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Hawkes, Emily Watson, Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington.

Directed by: Baltasar Kormákur.

Written by William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy.

Release date: 24 September 2015 (United International Pictures)

Watch Everest trailer here: