Philipp Stölzl's NORTH FACE (New German)

Philipp Stölzl's NORTH FACE (New German)
Music Box - Check venue website for showtimes
Rarely on Cine-File do we cover a film that feels like a Clint Eastwood sports epic (unless it is a Clint Eastwood sports epic, viz. INVICTUS), but in this case the film is a 2008 German release that has received little to no attention in the States. Part adventure-epic, part journalist drama, and part love story, it's all wonderfully shot blowing snow and foreboding rock crags that echo the bergfilmes of the '30's. Set in 1936, when everyone wanted to be the first to summit the north face of Switzerland's "the Eiger"--the last great unsolved problem of the Alps. Teams from Germany, Austria, Italy, and France were all competing to prove their superiority as mountaineers and as a nation. And unlike other challenges of human endurance, this one had a hotel with a lookout balcony and a cog railway through the interior of the mountain (that still boasts the highest station in Europe) that made this dangerous game of bravado into a spectator sport. What makes this story of two unsuccessful German climbers and the journalist who covered them worthwhile is the attention to detail that captures the climbing experience in sight and sound. The camera dangles on a rope next to the climbers, and at times we can barely hear their dialogue over the howling wind. The story becomes secondary after the first hour, as we already suspect their deadly fate. We stay to watch while the landscape becomes all-consuming, and devours our "heroes" like an ogre. (2008, 121 min, 35mm) - Cine-File.info