Touching the Void

This true story of two British mountain climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, will hands down be one of the most gripping and inspirational films you will ever watch. After scaling the 21,000 foot Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes, their descent morphed into a nightmare disaster when Simpson fell and broke his leg. Yates tried to lower him down the mountain, but eventually cut the rope and sent his partner to his death. Or not. The remainder of the film shows how Simpson fell even further into an enormous crevasse and made it down alive by actually lowering himself deeper into that crevasse. The film makers re-enact the drama with actors, but continually switch back to interviews with both Simpson and Yates who describe exactly what happened, what they thought and how they felt. The only story of human bravery, courage and survival that compares to this is Shackleton's failed Antarctica trek in 1914–1916 (recounted in the Imax Endurance). After six surgeries, and an unflincing defense of Yates for cutting the rope, Simpson still climbs today.