Man and mountain, the eternal challenge, the need to surpass your limits. And when the mountain in question is the tallest in the world, Everest, this challenge becomes partly impossible. It is on these peaks, atop the roof of the world in the eternal snow and thinning air, with the violently changeable weather, varying between sun, storms and snowstorms, that the true story of a group of rather brave and slightly reckless men plays out. And once you’ve reached the summit, you face the fresh challenge of the descent. Filmed in harsh conditions to give the film a sense of realism, at altitudes of up to 1,800m, with the crew sleeping in shelters without heating and electric blankets to keep themselves warm in temperatures that plummeted a slow as -30°C.
The film was shot partly in Nepal, Kathmandu, at the Everest Base Camp, in Italy at Cinecittà Studios, where a swimming pool measuring 7,000m2 filled with basaltic rock was used to recreate the rocks of the Himalayas, and in Val Senales, where a team of around 180 people worked to make the scenes that take place at high altitude as realistic as possible.
Man and mountain, the eternal challenge, the need to surpass your limits. And when the mountain in question is the tallest in the world, Everest, this challenge becomes partly impossible. It is on these peaks, atop the roof of the world in the eternal snow and thinning air, with the violently changeable weather, varying between sun, storms and snowstorms, that the true story of a group of rather brave and slightly reckless men plays out. And once you’ve reached the summit, you face the fresh challenge of the descent. Filmed in harsh conditions to give the film a sense of realism, at altitudes of up to 1,800m, with the crew sleeping in shelters without heating and electric blankets to keep themselves warm in temperatures that plummeted a slow as -30°C.
The film was shot partly in Nepal, Kathmandu, at the Everest Base Camp, in Italy at Cinecittà Studios, where a swimming pool measuring 7,000m2 filled with basaltic rock was used to recreate the rocks of the Himalayas, and in Val Senales, where a team of around 180 people worked to make the scenes that take place at high altitude as realistic as possible.
Copyright: ©Universal Pictures/Everest
Jason Clarke - Val Senales/Schnalstal Glacier - South Tyrol
The film, which opened the 72nd edition of the Venice Film Festival, is based on the book Into Thin Air, written by Jon Krakauer in 1997, and tells the story of the disastrous expedition in 1996 of two groups aiming to reach the summit of Everest, led by Rob Hall and Scott Fischer, two famous guides.
