It appears that most of the features left on my Netflix list are upwards of two hours long. That's one reason I chose this, at 101 minutes. Another is that it's set in cold areas, in contrast to the present weather where I live. Finally, it seemed the closest thing to another Free Solo.
Nirmal Purja, who's also an executive producer, is a high-altitude mountaineer (HAM?). In April 2019, he launches Project Possible, which entails scaling all 14 Asian peaks that exceed 8,000 meters above sea level -- by winter, dramatically breaking several records along the way. At one point, he and his team have to rally to persuade the federal government of China to let them proceed, but that may be the least of their troubles.
OK, it's a documentary like Free Solo, but the subject is closer to The Summit of the Gods. We're rarely made to worry about anyone falling a great distance; a much greater danger is in losing the fortitude to continue. In a way, that makes it scarier, because death won't come all that quickly.
Obviously, Purja survived, but the team does see fit to perform some rescues of other hikers, not always successfully. Sometimes they hope to find the hikers already dead, because survival under those conditions is an ordeal. Purja actually worries more about the imminent death of his chronically ill mother, whose mood is surely never improved until she knows he's safe again.
I now understand better than ever what health risks await us at high altitudes. Even hallucinations are not uncommon. On this point, the film gets particularly visually artistic. It also delves into animation for telling about parts that couldn't be recorded, such as his military experience.
Yes, there is a little violence on screen. That said, the main reason for a TV-MA rating is the swearing. Because hey, who's going to tell a bunch of men under stress to tone it down?
We get quite a few subtitles, usually for English. After all, most of the speakers don't have English as their first language, and miking on the mountains isn't optimal. Perhaps the trickiest to make out is Reinhold Messner, the first man who ever scaled the 14. All you really need to know there is how impressed he is with Purja.
If I have a complaint, it's that one snow-capped peak looks just like another to me. While I appreciate that the climbing is far more challenging than any I've done, watching the team go at it again and again gets a little tiresome. We rather have to take their word for it that they're achieving their goals.
It's a story worth knowing, and not just on the assumption that Europeans doing the same feat would get more attention. Whether you want to learn that story by sitting thru this movie, I leave up to you. I wouldn't call it "feel-good," but you might find it inspiring.
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