“The Summit”
Directed by Nick Ryan
Starring Christine Barnes, Hoselito Bite, Marco Confortola, Pat Falvey, Niall Foley, Stefan Grossniklaus
Documentary
95 Mins
R

K2 is the second highest peak on Earth (after Mount Everest) and by far the most difficult to summit. It has a staggering casualty rate of one in four. Nick Ryan’s The Summit tells the story of an infamous 2008 expedition where 11 of 24 climbers were lost. Ryan makes the audience aware of these statistics early on in the documentary, helping to shape an acute sense of foreboding as we hear virginal tales of these excited climbers over sinister music. Unfortunately the film’s strong start is spoiled by haphazard editing that trumps its initial sense of excitement and leaves the viewer in disbelief that the run time is only 95 minutes.

As far as educational value goes, the film certainly doesn’t skimp. Grand in scope, it lays out every detail about what makes this the hardest climb in the world as well as the history of the mountain, and what exactly has gone wrong to result in so many deaths. If the goal is to learn as much as possible about K2, this is a good starting place. Outdoor enthusiasts and adventure seekers will be pleased, as this film is clearly aimed towards those who can relate to these methodical adrenaline junkies.

There are many methods of scaling a mountain, Ryan tells us. Some (such as a group of Korean climbers) move in large teams, while some move only in pairs. Many rely on oxygen and a Sherpa, while others use neither. What they all have in common is that they are extremely experienced climbers, contradictory to some early news reports on the underlying tragedy.

Ryan uses documentary footage to show the camaraderie between nations at base camp, the competition between hopeful climbers trying to ascend, and the ultimate moral problem that faces climbers: whether to save yourself or try to save an endangered climber. We are told that an unspoken climber’s code is that you save yourself, and you cut your rope if you are endangering your fellow climbers. Just as climbing methods differ between nations, the approach to this moral question differs, showing some to be unapologetic in saving themselves at all costs, as well as those who will wait around, at great risk, to save a friend. Through this lens, the film gives a very three-dimensional look at a great deal of climbers.

Real footage from the event blends seamlessly with the occasional reenactment, to set the record straight on an event that became a real-life Rashomon. Multiple conflicting stories from the survivors saturate the media for months. This, of course, begs the audience to question the authenticity of The Summit’s account. If it was so chaotic up there, how is the film’s chosen account any different? However, this aspect of the story isn’t brought out until very late in the film, and it feels rushed. In fact, pacing is the film’s greatest weakness. Much like a climber looking to tackle the K2, this film has the most difficulty on the way down.

While trying to balance interviews with survivors, documentary footage, and footage from a much earlier climb by the first group to conquer K2, The Summit loses steam fast. As soon as you feel yourself becoming invested in a story, before the payoff, the film shifts gears. It does this repeatedly, and while it can be a good technique, the documentary fails to build enough sympathy for the characters to achieve the intended goal. It jumps around far too much, as the audience waits for everything to connect in a way that justifies the film’s tangential wanderings.

As The Summit pays homage to each fallen climber in a still frame of their picture, birth date, and death date, after each death occurs on screen, it seem like more of a memorial service than a film. The entire thing felt like its intended audience was the bereaved. On this very particular level, it was a success, but it doesn’t offer very much for your average film goer. Here it breaks from Kevin Macdonald’s excellent Touching the Void, which managed to maintain a fantastic sense of tension and character investment. Some of The Summit’s most heavy-hitting moments, such as a grieving widow breaking down in tears, recounting the death of her husband, come well after the film has lost all momentum, completely obliterating the potential of such a scene.

It seems insensitive to trash this film because it was not “entertaining” enough, as it is thoroughly devoted to the facts of a relatively recent tragedy. But when a story such as this doesn’t make you grieve for innocent lives lost, it is a failure. It is a problem of severed impact, something that was apparently lost on the editing room floor.

The footage is there, it just needs coherence, which proper editing could provide. An argument can be made, that the editing style was supposed to make the audience feel the confusion of the climbers, but a documentary needs to document clearly and The Summit does not. Climbing fanatics and family members of lost hikers will probably enjoy this film regardless of its faults, since it is packed with detail, but the rest of us will be left cold.