Touching the Void

Touching the Void (2003) is Kevin Macdonald's documentary drama, and you can watch it online. It retells what two British climbers lived through on a remote peak in the Peruvian Andes, with the real men sitting before the camera to talk it out themselves.

In 1985 Joe Simpson and Simon Yates became the first to climb the sheer west face of 6,344-metre Siula Grande. Coming down, Simpson smashed his leg. What followed is a choice that haunts both men: tied together in a whiteout, Yates found his partner dangling over a void he couldn't see past, and eventually cut the rope, certain Joe was already dead. But Simpson, fallen deep into a crevasse, was alive, and had to crawl back to base camp alone.

Macdonald braids two layers together: the unflinching present-day testimony of Simpson and Yates, and staged ascent footage where Brendan Mackey and Nicholas Aaron stand in for them. The result hits harder than any invented thriller because every beat actually happened. It took the BAFTA for best British film. A hundred and six minutes of dread and sheer will. Stream Touching the Void (2003) online on iFILM.