Touching the Void (film)

Infobox Film
name = Touching the Void


image_size =
caption = Region 2 DVD cover
director = Kevin MacDonald
producer = John Smithson
writer =
narrator =
starring = Brendan Mackey
Nicholas Aaron
Ollie Ryall
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Pathé (UK theatrical)
IFC (US theatrical)
MGM (US DVD)
released = flagicon|Canada 5 September, 2003 (premiere at TIFF)
flagicon|UK 12 December, 2003
flagicon|USA 23 January, 2004 (NYC)
flagicon|Canada 20 February, 2004
flagicon|Australia 24 June, 2004
runtime = 106 mins
country = UK
language = English
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0379557

"Touching the Void" is a 2003 documentary film based on the book of the same name by Joe Simpson about Simpson's and Simon Yates' disastrous and near fatal attempt to climb the 6,344 metre (20,813 foot) Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985. The film combines documentary footage of interviews conducted with Simpson, Yates and Richard Hawking with a reenactment performed by actors Brendan Mackey, Nicholas Aaron and Ollie Ryall. The film was directed by Kevin MacDonald.

Responses

During the making of the film, the director and producers invited Simon Yates and Joe Simpson to return to Siula Grande in 2002 for the first time since the events of 1985. Simpson, despite finding the return emotionally difficult and experiencing post traumatic stress syndrome on his return, eventually said that he was happy with the film and its portrayal of the events. Yates, on the other hand, reported having no emotional response to returning to Siula Grande, and decided to have nothing to do with the film once he had returned from the mountain.cite video | title = Touching the Void Region 1 Special Features | medium = DVD | publisher = MGM | date = 2004 ]

After the story of what happened to Simpson and Yates reached home (England), Yates received much criticism from some mountaineers for cutting the rope during the descent. Simpson has deeply accepted that Yates did the right thing and practically saved his life, and has always defended him on that matter.

Music

The climbers reach the summit to the climax of Thomas Tallis's "Spem in alium". During one of Joe's many deliriums, he experiences a very strong reminiscence of a Boney M song, "Brown Girl in the Ring", a song he hated thoroughly, at one point he was thinking "bloody hell, I'm going to die to Boney M".

Notes

External links

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###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
before = "The Warrior"
after = "My Summer of Love"
title = Alexanda Korda Award for Best British Film
years = 2003