Film: The Epic of Everest

I'm glad I decided to go to a film after a long evening's flat-viewing; it gave me a welcome break. This can become an obsession.

Anyway, as I hadn't heard back from the people who might have squeezed me in this evening, and my last confirmed viewing was in Shepherds Bush at 7.30, I had plenty of time before the 8.45 showing of The Epic of Everest, showing twice nightly at the BFI as part of their Extreme Summits season. In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the climbing of Mt. Everest, there's a host of Everest-based films showing, and this seems to be the best.

Well, when I say I had plenty of time.. I had time to squeeze in a KFC before heading to the BFI. I was sorry I did, it was so salty: which makes the statements printed on the tray liner all the more ironic - about how they were the first fast food restaurant not to salt their chips, and other such healthy claims. Maybe it was a build-up of salt, but by the time I gave up on my meal, every single thing in it tasted over-salted. And I hadn't added salt to anything. Maybe I'm out of practice, I dunno. Oh, and I was wise not to sit in the downstairs seating area, having seen the sign that said it closed at 8, which was in 15 mins. I knew I wouldn't be finished, and I wasn't, when the steel grille came down at the top of the stairs leading to the downstairs seating. And, sure enough, they hadn't bothered to check whether anyone was still down there, because a few minutes later, a bemused man climbed the stairs to find himself locked in, and had to be rescued. Hmm. Approach this place with caution.

So, I made it to the BFI just as they were calling for people to take their seats. I settled into my seat - they're comfy here. And the film started.

Now, this is actual footage from the 1924 Mallory & Irvine expedition to climb Everest. They've remastered it and added a soundtrack which, while largely appropriate, does get intrusive at times. But my, the film is fascinating! We start by being amused at the language used in the descriptions (it is a silent film), and at what people are wearing. I wasn't the only audience member to remark at Mallory climbing Everest in a tweed jacket! We are treated to something of an ethnographic documentary on the locals - a couple of statements would be regarded as quite un-PC these days. And there's that gorgeous Himalayan scenery as a backdrop. And our fearless heroes plodding through it, with donkeys and walking sticks. Through, as is mentioned, valleys where no human has trod before.

And as they climb higher, and knowing what's coming, the stakes become higher and the drama heightens. For the final shots, as the narrator says, they physically couldn't take the camera any higher, so they used the most powerful telescopic lenses of the day, and explained to us the distance at which each shot was taken. Our last sightings, therefore, of the doomed mountaineers are as black dots moving on a massive white landscape. And it is truly poignant when, after they haven't returned, a rescue team goes looking for them, and gives a pre-agreed signal, depending on whether they're alive or presumed dead. So, through a telescopic lens, we see the rescue team lay out blankets in the form of a cross. Dead, then. It would be decades before Mallory's body was found - Irvine's hasn't been yet.

Stirring stuff. See it, if you get the chance. Showing in the BFI for the rest of the month.

As for tomorrow, I am intending to go to the play I didn't get to today. But that all depends on the flat-viewing. See, I didn't get to see the first place - there was no answer at the house, and it turns out he wasn't there at all, despite having arranged the time with me. Well, I couldn't wait. But we cleared it up later and I'm going back tomorrow (today, now!). If he's that poor a timekeeper, I may be there all evening..