North Face (2008)

52 out of 55 people found the following review helpful:

bad experiance

willywilson from , 10th June, 2009

yet another film that i did not read properly it was all in german,couldn't understand,a friend sugested to watch.but by try-ing to read the subtitles i was missing the film,gave up yet again.

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13 out of 13 people found the following review helpful:

North Face

fastforward from , 4th May, 2009

One of the better climbing films that I have seen although nowhere near as good as Touching the Void. The climb was given context within the political situation in Germany at the time. The Eiger looked appropriately menacing and the desperate situation of the climbers was contrasted well with the comfortable existence of the people viewing them through telescopes from the safety of their hotel. I felt it was unecessary and rather contrived to introduce Kurtz's girlfriend into the final scene. It was gripping and harrowing enough as it was.

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9 out of 9 people found the following review helpful:

Gripping!

A Customer from Warrington, 17th May, 2009

Not sure what to expect with this film having seen touching the void and enjoyed that, but I was gripped from start to finish. This is real edge of the seat stuff and it has really easy to read and follow english subtitles. Trust me you will not be disappointed and the storm scenes of the mountain are terrific

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7 out of 8 people found the following review helpful:

nein!

A Customer from London, 3rd October, 2009

It's in German with English subtitles! This is the second time that i have not watched a film to the end. the last time we lasted an hour and then went down the pub instead,this 2 minutes was enough. admittedly i didn;t feel great ,but i had nothing better to do and still couldn't be bothered to read the subtitles. so as for plot or acting performance I have no idea.if you can cope with reading subtitles for the length of the film then it might be worth a go.

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A cracking dramatisaion

Palomita from , 7th March, 2010

After a pair of German climbers died attempting to climb the unconquered north face of the Eiger in the Swiss Alps, 1930s Nazi Germany is looking to find a team to succeed in this supreme challenge, so they can point score in European sporting victories. Henry Arau, publisher of one of Berlin's biggest newspapers, is a loyal son of the Third Reich and when his editorial secretary, Luise, tells him she knows two climbers - she used to be romantically involved with one of them- who may be willing to attempt the Eiger's 'Nordwand' (also known as Death Wall), , her boss gives her free rein to approach her friends and make the patriotic dream a reality. The two young men take up the gauntlet and then face the challege of a lifetime. Despite taking initial pinches of dramatic licence, this is a thoroughly absorbing account of what really happened during the climb, based on the true story and including highly acclaimed, (albeit lengthy), mountaineering scenes. It's a gripping story (and I'm not a climbing nut) and whether you consider climbing with rudimentary equipment to be bravery or lunacy, the enthusiasm and dogged determination of these two young men facing the most appalling conditions, is impressive. If you are moved by the film, I recommend highly that you watch Joe Simpson's 'The Beckoning Silence' as a follow-up to 'North Face' - it too is brilliant, a gripping documentary version of this amazing climb, without the fictional love interest.

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Subtitled in german but good

Nodmister from , 1st March, 2010

This is not a bad mountain climbing film, but with the subtitles. It takes alot of concentration to know what's going on unless you understand german. Not too gruesome and not too holywoodised but with enough going on to keep you interested, even fairly technically correct and you tend to have some idea of what's going to happen next.

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Icily gripping

Culey from , 26th January, 2010

I didn't know from the blurb whether I would enjoy this story of mountain climbing but it was totally gripping , as gripping as pitons? if that's what they're called. We were totally hooked even tho the DVD kept sticking and I had to go and clean it! The contrast between the rich pampered voyeurs at the Hotel and the climbers battling the elements with minimal equipment( this was 1936 the year of my birth!)was interesting as was the apolitical stance of the two German climbers. Right to the end we were sitting on the edge of our seats willing the men to succeed!

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Good Film (but subtitle problem)

A Customer from Surrey UK, 21st January, 2010

It was not a bad film and quite interesting. Only one thing really spoiled it for me...the subtitling was very poor. You were only given around 30% of the dialogue as subtitles, often the actors would exchange comments for a while and no subtitles would come on screen. Many times the subtitles that did appear were inaccurate. With 60% of the dialogue gone, many nuances of the film were lost. It was the laziest piece of subtitling I have ever seen!

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