Beyond The Edge 3D

Beyond The Edge is a breath-taking (no pun intended) docu-drama about New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary’s triumphant ascent on Mount Everest in 1953, which guaranteed him a forever special place in the history of mountaineering. Cleverly and skilfully combining dramatized recreation, on shot location on ‘the roof of the world’ and New Zealand, as well as archive footage, this re-telling of Britain’s ninth expedition to the notoriously difficult mountain is a cinematic spectacle of massive proportions.

The expedition was led by John Hunt - but it was Sir Edmund Hillary (played by Chad Moffitt) and his Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay (played by Sonam Sherpa) who tirelessly pushed forward and thus became the first climbers to have reached the summit of Everest. Physically strong – not least thanks to his height – Hillary possessed an exceptional endurance and took to climbing at a young age – in 1939 he reached the summit of Mount Olivier in New Zealand’s Southern Alps. Dividing his passion for mountain climbing (in the winter) with his profession as a beekeeper (in the summer), Hillary was obviously a man who loved the outdoors.

The 1953 John Hunt expedition totalled over 400 people (including Sherpas and porters) and set up base camp in March of 1953. On May 29th, both Hillary and Norgay reached Everest's 29,028 ft summit, the highest point on earth, at 11:30 am after a gruelling climb. What happened between the two dates is brilliantly captured in Beyond The Edge, not only re-telling the hardship and complications the expedition had to face courtesy of treacherous weather, but also the tricky question of how to best tackle the oxygen problem with increasing altitude. These hardships are convincingly re-enacted by the actors, as they struggle to march forward in ice and snow. Particularly impressive are shots of the so-called ice wall where lumps of snow and ice can fall down on climbers at any given moment. Accidental slides into crevices where the life of a climber literally dangles on a rope, or the crossing of crevices via primitive ladders further emphasize just how driven these men were.
Voice-over contributions from the original Everest team, relatives and Alpine veterans complement the picture. The heroic efforts of climbers John Hunt, Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans was eclipsed by Hillary and Norgay on that fateful morning in May – making it indeed an outstanding historical adventure just a few days prior to Queen Elizabeth II Coronation on June 2nd.

Hillary and Norgay spent only about 15 minutes at the summit, where Hillary took the famous photo of Norgay posing with the flagged ice-axe. Additional photos were taken to confirm to the world that the ascent was not faked, and gifts to the gods where buried in the snow. Meanwhile, their comrades waited anxiously below, not knowing whether the two climbers had reached the summit or would indeed return at all from the mountain that had already claimed so many lives before. The panoramic view from the Everest summit, as the camera pans around, is impressive as it is but here is made even more impressive thanks to 3D.

This is an epic adventure not to be missed, so make sure you see it on a big screen!