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Nanga Parbat: the movie

PostPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:42 pm
by mvs
ImageCharles and I just had the pleasure of seeing the new film Nanga Parbat, which tells the story of the ill-fated 1970 German expedition where Günther Messner died on the descent with his brother. Reinhold Messner was highly involved in the production of the film which has caused controversy and re-opened old wounds. (Read about it here)

But as far as the film goes, we enjoyed it. Maybe it was made from his point of view, and is therefore one-sided, but it also seems clear that the partnership between the brothers was unequal, with Reinhold always pushing the limit. From their parent's point of view, Günther was the weaker one, and it was Reinholds job to bring him back alive. In the film, Reinhold appears brash and unaware of (or uninterested in) this subtext of vulnerability and the need for him to take responsibility in their close relationship...with ominous results. As a viewer I appreciated that these kinds of faults were allowed to be seen.

There is some beautiful footage of the Dolomites, including some trad climbing at the beginning of the film. As a "Münchner," it was neat to see the expedition set out with fanfare from the Marienplatz, just a few blocks from where we saw the film. The music was incredible, lots of soaring slide guitar solos, perfect mountain music.

A flaw is that although there is beautiful footage of the mountain from a helicopter, it seems clear that climbing scenes were done elsewhere, possibly in the alps (speculation). There are some comically poor cutaway shots where the climbers look out at the mountains and their perspective seems to be from a plane. Mountains in those scenes often have a CGI look, and features such as avalanches were big CGI/rendering extravaganzas.

Three cheers for another good German mountain movie after Nordwand! Thanks Charles for coming along! :)
--Michael

Re: Nanga Parbat: the movie

PostPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:53 pm
by Mathias Zehring
mvs wrote:A flaw is that although there is beautiful footage of the mountain from a helicopter, it seems clear that climbing scenes were done elsewhere, possibly in the alps (speculation).

Thx for this fine summary!
AFAIK climbing scenes have been filmed in Venediger Group. Some scenes at the basecamp were filmed near Johannishuette hut.

PostPosted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 5:20 am
by nhluhr
are you aware of any screenings in USA?

PostPosted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 1:54 pm
by mvs
nhluhr wrote:are you aware of any screenings in USA?


No, it seems to take a while for that to happen! But hopefully it'll be available at Amazon or something in a few months.

PostPosted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:08 pm
by nattfodd
According to imdb, no release is planned in non-German speaking countries. That's a shame, but maybe they will rethink it if Nordwand is successful in the US.

PostPosted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:49 pm
by fossana
Thanks for posting. Looking forward to checking it out when it's available.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 9:30 am
by Charles
I can only echo mvs comments. It is worth seeing despite the flaws - but which "bio-pic" doesn´t have them?

I guess it´ll come out on DVD so it´ll have English sub-titles. Obviously though the big screen is where one should enjoy such films.
Cheers - and see you in the climbing gymn next week mvs :D

PS - I thought the two boys that played the brothers youths were excellent - especially Günther.

Re: Nanga Parbat: the movie

PostPosted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 1:26 pm
by cb294
Mathias Zehring wrote:
mvs wrote:A flaw is that although there is beautiful footage of the mountain from a helicopter, it seems clear that climbing scenes were done elsewhere, possibly in the alps (speculation).

Thx for this fine summary!
AFAIK climbing scenes have been filmed in Venediger Group. Some scenes at the basecamp were filmed near Johannishuette hut.


I thought that the climbing scenes were at least in part shot on Ortler, but I might be wrong,

CB

Re: Nanga Parbat: the movie

PostPosted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 2:35 pm
by mvs
cb294 wrote:...I thought that the climbing scenes were at least in part shot on Ortler, but I might be wrong,
CB


Hey that would be really cool! The Ortler is one of my favorite mountains.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 3:08 pm
by nattfodd

PostPosted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 3:32 pm
by Charles
nattfodd wrote:Another view on the movie: http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=51799

I used to have one of those head torches!