Everest (English, 2015)

The cinematography is quite exquisite. While this movie almost borders as a docu drama on climbing trip of Mount Everest, it is the visuals of Everest in all its glory that impresses us first. The beautiful and dangerous places during the climb are shown in a majestic way the place deserves. In any scenic trip that one enjoys, the places create a spiritual connection. The camera in this movie tries to create the same effect on screen and succeeds mostly.

All the other technical areas support the director on his vision to capture the feel of being ‘right there’ along with the other campers on their expedition. The sound design, the make up, the production design – everything complements the atmosphere.

The music by Dario Marianelli is a huge plus and is too good to miss out in the list of positive mentions about this movie.

The movie boasts of huge starcast – some of them are roped in to play very small roles. This is infact a double edged sword. Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Sam Worthington, Keira Knightley, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright – are all good to watch on screen.

The intention of the director seems to be the emotions involved. This comes across a little melodramatic. But it can’t be totally written off as it is based on a true story. The point that Rob takes Doug back again to the summit even though it is not a rational decision with the oncoming storm might put off even the slightest rationalist. The same can be said about almost all the dramatic scenes in the movie.

There are so many good actors in such miniscule roles, when the writing for these roles do not necessitate a big actor makes it an interesting conundrum. The audience end up feeling disappointed.

Finally this one aims to be a docu drama, trying to depict the events as such. But that ends up not making an extremely interesting watch.