Day 171: "Before my father passed away, he warned me about the dangers of Everest."

Released in 1998, Everest chronicles, in glorious IMAXy goodness, the climb to the summit of the highest mountain in the world, Mt. Everest.  Just over 5 miles above sea level, it has claimed more lives than the next 3 highest combined.  Beautifully shot, Everest does a magnificent job of portraying the beauty and majesty of this peak.  They cover the climb from base camp and show the procedures that the climbing party has to do to acclimatize themselves to the altitude.  My main gripe with the film is the number of dramatizations that the filmmakers use to move the story.  I understand that they could not shoot and use everything, but don't dummy up the drama by recreating in a controlled environment dramatic events that occurred on the journey, it cheapens the experience.  Other than that, this was a beautifully shot look at one of the most remote and difficult places to see on Earth.  During their ascent, there was another team climbing to the summit that got caught in a blizzard on May 8.  This was the party that had it's story documented in the film Into Thin Air. 

This is a relatively short film, only 45 minutes long, but it was very powerful and beautiful to see, even on a relatively small television screen.  The reason for the short length is due to the IMAX film stock.  Basically it's 70mm film stock, but the image is on the film sideways, creating an image twice the size of standard 35mm film stock, therefore taking up twice as much film per minute of film.  That gets to weigh quite a lot per hour of film.  If you do decide to see this, get the highest definition version possible.  It is very powerful and worth the watch.  8/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!