The first of my regular film on films depicting the outdoors. The film is Baltasar Kormakur's 2015 film 'Everest' which depicts the tragic 1996 Mount Everest expedition that Rob Hall led.

1. MIDDLE EAST’S OUTDOOR, ADVENTURE, TRAVEL & LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2015 - WWW.OUTDOORUAE.COM
38 OUTDOORUAE
Photos By: Universal Studios
Words By: Keith Pereña
What you will see here in the following
issues will be films – both past and present
carefully dissected to show what one could
expect from seeing them, be it a warning, an
idea or something that touches the heart. For
this issue, we begin with a film with a topic
that has become somewhat romanticized by
the media, a topic that has spawned vari-
ous films throughout the ages, but one that
hasn’t been properly depicted to show the
realities that climbers experience – the 2015
film simply called Everest which we had the
opportunity to view in advance during Sheikh
Mohammed Al Thani’s private screening of the
film held in Novo Cinemas in Dubai Festival
City last 16th of September.
It must be said that a film about Mt. Everest
can either be one of two things – a historical
piece or a highly romanticized film which is
not new to the world framed by the camera.
Most of the time, majority of us see climbers
already at the summit. Happy and exuberant
LIFESTYLE
Film: Everest (2015)
Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Starring: Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh
Brolin, Robin Wright, John Hawkes, Keira
Knightley, Emily Watson and Naoko Mori
This film begins a new column
that we would like to call Outdoor
Flicks. It is a place where one can
find our take on films that have
inspired us to spend our lives
outdoors or give us the proper
motivation to get moving.
Behind the Glitz of the High Lifeas they finally reached their destination; we
don’t usually see photos of them having a
hard time when something goes wrong or the
time it takes for them to go from one camp to
another. We only get to see the picture perfect
moments – not the ones behind it and this film
tends to break this mold as it shows the tragic
fate that some of the climbers during the 1996
Everest Expedition met. It showed the places
that rarely get featured on other films such as
the resting places of those who failed to sum-
mit or the various challenges that each and
every climber faces as they make their way to
the roof of the world — where any miscalcula-
tion could end up in disaster.
The film strikes a superb balance between
scenes of those in the mountain, those in the
camp and those who have relatives in their
respective countries. The film shows a nice
display of relationships being challenged in
the form of Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) spending
his last moments on the line with his wife Jan
Arnold (Keira Knightley). Another seemingly
interesting subplot is that of Beck Weathers
(John Brolin) and his wife Peach (Robin Wright)
as they find a semblance of togetherness
thanks to the mountain. But one important
scene early on in the film shows a truth unlike
any other. As a conversation starts in a local
Kathmandu cafe (the scenes of Kathmandu are
not to be missed) the audience gets to witness
various climbers and their reason as to why
they want to climb Everest. It ranged from the
“Seven Summits reason”, peace of mind, but
what hit close to home is that of Doug Hansen
(John Hawkes) reason: He just wanted to show
everybody that a normal man could climb
Everest. In that scene he gave truth to every
single mountaineer, that we all want to achieve
something that would prove to everyone that
no matter who we are we can do it.
It is a film that rings truth all over both the
bleak and the inspiring and this I believe
makes Everest a must-watch film for climbers,
and other outdoor aficionados. It’s not a brutal
reality check but it’s an enlightening viewpoint
on the life and times of those that would like
to summit Mt. Everest. Even those that were
present in the cinema – summiteers Sheikh
Mohammed Al Thani and Suzanne Al Houby
to name a few found the film to be a reliving
of their time on the mountain. If you want a
film that deals with Mt. Everest in a different
perspective, then this is one to watch.