Mountain (2017)

Mountain peaks with its immersive cinematic photography and glacial poetry. “Mountains were places of peril, not beauty. An upper world to be shunned, not sought out. How then have mountains now come to hold a spellbound? Drawing us into their dominion. Often at the cost of lives. Because the mountains we climb are not made only of rock and ice, but also dreams...and desire. The mountains we climb, are mountains of the mind.”

Passages from Macfarlane’s book ‘Mountains of the Mind’ sweep through the piercing crevices of Ozturk’s mountaineering photography, accompanied by Dafoe’s heavenly soothing narration. Exploring the relationship between humanity and mountains across time, “into a space where time warps...and bends”. Providing insight into their alluring endangerment, the mind’s requirement to feel alive. A lust for death-defying experiences where the stoic poses of grandiose mountains intimidate, cursed with the uncontrollable meteorology that governs them. Souls perish beneath the snow encrusted rocks. Others enlightened by the achievement they have just accomplished. “Sensations are thrillingly amplified”. Earth’s most imposing natural wonders of the world, have now become passions. “Our fascination became an obsession”. To conquer. To discover. To relinquish one’s self unto the summits where deities rest.

Mountain refuses to be categorised as just a documentary, but rather cinematic immersion. Enabling nature’s seduction to beguile and mesmerise. Towering peaks hypnotise to the accompaniment of Beethoven and Vivaldi’s stringed odes. The Australian Chamber Orchestra supplying an additional poetic interpretation to the lofty heights of snow-capped summits. Panoramic horizons woven into a methodical observation, edited exquisitely to create a narrative flow. The first expedition to Everest. Humanity’s eternal desire to achieve the unachievable. Modern tourism and its environmental impact. Extreme sports. Nature’s water cycle. A symphony of characteristics brought together to enrapture those who dream of the bone deep cold. Stunning. Bewitching. Photographic beauty that is rarely surpassed onscreen. For every shot of these formidable rock formation, is a mental link that questions the psychology of humanity. A surprisingly affecting and visceral experience.

However, much like the terrain that is captured, its pace is uneven. The balance between physical and human geography tipped towards the latter. Aspects such as the water cycle, volcanic surplus and glacial formations failed to coincide with the human element that enveloped this documentary. Furnishing no insight other than to resemble a rudimentary geography lesson one would watch at school. The daredevil stunts, mountaineering expeditions and environmental detriments were at the forefront, fortunately. Still, even these aspects were depicted unevenly with the environmentalism garnering a total of five minutes of the runtime. Considering the feature is just over an hour long, its secondary message had insufficient time to manifest.

To end this review, a passage from Macfarlane’s book, which should be read just for its exquisite poetry in itself, will suffice and perfectly sum up Mountain as a feature. “Stone and ice though are far less gentle to the hand’s touch than to the mind’s eye. The mountains of the Earth have often turned out to be more resistant, more fatally real, than the mountains we imagine”.