If you want to understand the historical climbing activities on Eiger this doc is a perfect intro to that. Eiger of course is known by basically anyone, even people who never set foot on a mountain or even a hill, and everyone knows the main climbing deaths on the mountain.
There are some good interviews and photos of people in this 2010 doc. You get the basics presented via narration as we go from the 30's up till the 2000's.
Unfortunately this doc doesn't quite hold up even compared to best Youtube documentaries. There are very few maps or graphics. You get a bit, but overall you feel lost. When they describe a death I want to see WHERE they died. But instead we just learn about the deaths. This of course is a huge issue with 99% of climbing docs. But today it would be very simple to add 3D graphics to this stuff. It would make the mountain come alive. It's also a shame that we don't get much background info to the deaths. We kinda get the basic info about their personalities and what went wrong. But really good docs try to tell a full story you engage in. Here it's just factually presented without any details. Which kinda sucks.
The quality is also not ideal. Modern docs filmed with digital cams are just essential for this stuff. Mountains are so detailed that analog cameras are horrible for this. Diving docs and mountain docs pretty much require modern HD recordings as otherwise you can only see the people and not the detailed landscape. A drone footage would do SOOO much for a doc like this. You could really show off the mountain.
Overall it's a strong intro. But it's a summary rather than a magnificent doc exploring the emotions and stories behind it all.
There are some good interviews and photos of people in this 2010 doc. You get the basics presented via narration as we go from the 30's up till the 2000's.
Unfortunately this doc doesn't quite hold up even compared to best Youtube documentaries. There are very few maps or graphics. You get a bit, but overall you feel lost. When they describe a death I want to see WHERE they died. But instead we just learn about the deaths. This of course is a huge issue with 99% of climbing docs. But today it would be very simple to add 3D graphics to this stuff. It would make the mountain come alive. It's also a shame that we don't get much background info to the deaths. We kinda get the basic info about their personalities and what went wrong. But really good docs try to tell a full story you engage in. Here it's just factually presented without any details. Which kinda sucks.
The quality is also not ideal. Modern docs filmed with digital cams are just essential for this stuff. Mountains are so detailed that analog cameras are horrible for this. Diving docs and mountain docs pretty much require modern HD recordings as otherwise you can only see the people and not the detailed landscape. A drone footage would do SOOO much for a doc like this. You could really show off the mountain.
Overall it's a strong intro. But it's a summary rather than a magnificent doc exploring the emotions and stories behind it all.
