The true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.The true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.The true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
- Won 1 BAFTA Award
- 8 wins & 10 nominations total
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAt the end of the movie, there's a written line claiming that Simon faced "strong criticism" from the climbing community after his return to England. This claim has been repeated in several press statements and reviews, but it's not correct. What really happened is that, one month after his return in Europe, Simon went climbing in the Alps, unaware that the Daily Mail newspaper had published a wildly incorrect version of the Siula story, implying that Simon had tried to kill Joe. This was of course absurd, and the British climbing community dismissed it immediately as nonsense. However, back home Simon discovered that a small group of senior members of the Mount Everest Foundation (the body that manages founding for climbing expeditions in the Greater Ranges) had misjudged the story and now wanted Simon excluded in the future from the MEF funds - a move that could basically kill Simon's climbing career. At this point however, Joe Simpson had a correct version of the Siula story published in a respected climbing magazine, and the whole issue was cleared. However, in the DVD commentary, Joe Simpson himself clearly says that Simon came under much criticism after returning home, and that he wrote Touching the Void to defend Simon.
- GoofsWhen Joe reaches the bottom of the crevasse (00:59:57) and starts crawling on his stomach towards the sunlight, you can clearly see the blue helmet of another person.
- Quotes
Joe Simpson: You gotta make decisions. You gotta keep making decisions, even if they're wrong decisions, you know. If you don't make decisions, you're stuffed.
- Crazy creditsDuring the first part of the closing credits (before the crawl), the credits are accompanied by black-and-white pictures showing the three men's journey back into civilization; the final picture is of Joe in the hospital.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Making of 'Touching the Void' (2003)
Featured review
'Touching the Void' has chosen the right approach to tell the true story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates. Two mountaineers who had a lot of bad luck while climbing a certain mountain in the Andes. That they both survive is clear from the beginning since they are telling their own story, looking straight into the camera, the way people explain things in a documentary. Since two actors play Simpson and Yates in a reconstruction of their story this is not a documentary completely. The tension that is created due this approach is great. If it was a movie-remake of their story things would seem implausible and unbelievable. It would become a movie like 'Vertical Limit'. If it was all documentary with explaining and maybe showing the mountain from the time to time it would be a great story but boring to watch.
Honestly, the movie had more suspense than most horror movies today. The real Simpson and Yates explain what happens and with perfect visuals the actors Brendan Mackey (Simpson) and Nicholas Aaron (Yates) show us how it must have looked like. There is third character named Richard Hawking who stayed at base camp while Simpson and Yates did their climbing. He is played by Ollie Ryall and of course it is necessary that he is in the reconstruction, but he himself also speaks like the real Simpson and Yates in between. For me he did not add anything to the story and therefore I did not really get his presence.
About the story I will not spoil anything for you, although you must know some things already, but I can say that the events you will see are close to unbelievable. If you are already a little scared of things like climbing, you will definitely not change your mind after seeing this. If you want to see a nice documentary, or a thriller, action, horror, disaster-movie, see 'Touching the Void'.
Honestly, the movie had more suspense than most horror movies today. The real Simpson and Yates explain what happens and with perfect visuals the actors Brendan Mackey (Simpson) and Nicholas Aaron (Yates) show us how it must have looked like. There is third character named Richard Hawking who stayed at base camp while Simpson and Yates did their climbing. He is played by Ollie Ryall and of course it is necessary that he is in the reconstruction, but he himself also speaks like the real Simpson and Yates in between. For me he did not add anything to the story and therefore I did not really get his presence.
About the story I will not spoil anything for you, although you must know some things already, but I can say that the events you will see are close to unbelievable. If you are already a little scared of things like climbing, you will definitely not change your mind after seeing this. If you want to see a nice documentary, or a thriller, action, horror, disaster-movie, see 'Touching the Void'.
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Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $4,593,598
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $96,973
- Jan 25, 2004
- Gross worldwide
- $13,905,522
- Runtime1 hour 46 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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