Touching the Void (2004)

Directed by Kevin Macdonald Starring Joe Simpson, Simon Yates, Richard Hawking, Brendan Mackey, Nicholas Aaron, Ollie Ryall Rating: C                       "These people should not be praised; they should be ridiculed for attempting a suicide mission billed as an 'adventure'."

Touching the Void is not much different from the true-to-life shock stories that populate the television networks right around sweeps time.  We all know them well: People getting into really serious trouble somehow manage to survive, and they become better individuals on account of their near-death experiences.  Really, the only appropriate reaction to such stories is: “Can you believe that?”  But after that’s said, there isn’t much more that one can say.  Yes, we all understand that horrible things happen to people all the time.   And yes, we also know and understand that such horrific occurrences sometimes have a miraculous quality to them when we learn that those involved somehow pulled through, against all odds.  So we certainly don’t learn anything new in giving movies like Touching the Void two hours of our lives.  This, of course, just begs the question: Why watch in the first place? Touching the Void, based on mountain climber Joe Simpson's memoir of the same name, is a documentary that uses interviews and re-enactments to tell the story of Simpson and Simon Yates. In 1985, the two young British mountaineers attempted to scale the treacherous Siula Grande peak in the Peruvian Andes, but disaster strikes (more than once). How both survive the ordeal, particularly Simpson, is the focus of the film. The premise of the story is indeed quite titillating.  But as we watch the film, we are immediately struck by the sheer amount of suffering that we are made to endure as witnesses to the Simpson and Yates mess.  We watch in horror and utter disgust as Simpson’s knee is shattered again and again with every tumble upon his descent.  And this is precisely where films like Touching the Void run into trouble.  They are so bent on exposing the excruciatingly dire circumstances of the characters that they necessarily indict the very life they’re trying to show as ultimately miraculous and wondrous.  And most importantly, Touching the Void does this without recognizing the obvious: that Simpson and Yates climbed of their own free will, knowing full well the dangers that lay ahead.  Truly it is no wonder whatsoever that they get into such horrific trouble.  The fact that they survive is no miracle; it’s just dumb luck. Presumably, director Kevin Macdonald wants the audience to go away from his film with a newfound respect for the “triumph of the human spirit.”  Unless the triumph of the human spirit over something as banal as sheer stupidity is worthy of our attention, there is no reason to watch films like these.  And so why do we watch?  Because we love seeing ourselves as the victims of a world of uncertainty and chaos.  Frankly, this shows us all to be weaklings psychotically searching for justifications for our weaknesses.  For all its claims about the triumph of the human spirit, and the miraculous nature of the outcome, Touching the Void never really takes responsibility for the events that transpire.  Joe Simpson and Simon Yates are hardly victims: they chose to climb a mountain they knew to be deadly.  To suggest that we should look to their story with awe would be to cave into the victim-mentality that saturates the commentary throughout the entire film.  These people should not be praised; they should be ridiculed for attempting a suicide mission billed as an “adventure.”  To glamorize their dance with death is akin to glamorizing a kind of mindless recklessness.  And that is an obscene proposition. I’d give Kevin Macdonald's Touching the Void a C.

Unfashionable Observations by Xavier Morales © 2004