Nanga Parbat
2010
**
Director: Joseph Vilsmeier
Cast: Florian Stetter, Andreas Tobias, Karl Markovics, Steffen Schroeder, Sebastian Bezzel, Lena Stolze, Horst Kummeth
In 1970, the Messner brothers Reinhold and Günther joined a German expedition to Nanga Parbat in the Himalayas. The climb was successful but it ended tragically. This German film depicts Reinhold's version of the events. The story unfolds in flashbacks and the expositional dialogue is used almost entirely to create a sense of foreboding. Since the outcome is a foregone conclusion, director Joseph Vilsmeier is left with a job to turn the incident into a nail-biting drama, much like Touching the Void. He fails with flying colours, probably because he sticks too close to the facts. The weather-delayed opening is long and dull, the actual climb to the summit is over too soon, and the trudge down the mountain is endless. When the descent reaches its dramatic conclusion, Vilsmeier completely drops the ball.
