Member review

Touching the Void is a very gripping and intense film. What makes it so popular is the fact that it's a true story and the events throughout the film which seem so unrealistic but aren't. This is the story of two British climbers called Simon Yates and Joe Simpson,who were 21 and 25 years old and in 1985 set out to scale the Siula Grande, a terrifyingly difficult peak in the Peruvian Andes. They planned to do so by just two guys connected by a rope, making their way up this unconquered and almost sheer face in what was effectively a continuous effort with minimal breaks and just one other man left at a lonely base camp. In the film Simpson lost his footing and broke his leg, hanging free from his rope, swinging out into the abyss, threatening to bring Yates down with him. Even if he could be brought back to get a grip on the rock face, he was surely going to die. Yates is eventually left to cut the rope leaving the audience thinking that Simpson surely cannot survive this but the journey shows that he slowly made it back to camp and he got through everything and survived, this is what makes this film so successful the fact that it's a true story and one man was able to survive with a broken leg in almost impossible conditions.