Touching the Void (DVD)

Based on the best-selling novel by Joe Simpson, Touching the Void recounts the mountain climb Simpson and his partner Simon Yates undertook in 1985. The film follows the two extreme climbers as they set out to climb the 21,000 foot ice-face – the Siula Grande – in the Peruvian Andes. Simpson and Yates embark on an 'Alpine style' climb – with no backup team, no helicopters and no equipment other than what they carry on their backs. Theirs is the purist technique: roped together, and utterly dependent on each other's skill. Simpson and Yates have guts, youthful arrogance and talent. They climb up icicles, dangle over 1400m drops and spend three hours making a cup of tea at -62°c!

Making it to the top in three days, they run into blizzard weather on a treacherous ridge on their way down, where Simpson falls and shatters his leg – a veritable death sentence. A heroic battle for survival unfolds in which both men are faced with life or death decisions that test the human spirit to its limit.

A riveting mix of interview and re-enactment makes Touching the Void so much more than a mountaineering film. It is breathtakingly beautiful to look at and compelling to watch. While we experience the effort, the exhaustion, the pain and the triumph of one of the greatest stories of survival, Touching the Void also raises big questions of the nature of forgiveness and the importance of human companionship. It is a film about taking control of your life and the power of extreme challenges that involve complex practical, moral and ethical choices.

Ultimately, Touching the Void is, beyond any cliché, truly a story about the triumph of the human spirit.

A stunning and unrelentingly suspenseful film, Touching the Void has become one of the most successful documentaries in cinema box-office history.

DVD extras:

• Short documentaries – Return to Siula Grande (25 minutes); What Happened Next? (9 minutes)