Watching Everest Movie

On September 16 there was a private screening of the film Everest by the Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur at the cinema IMAX at the Fairmont Hotel in Baku.

The worldwide presentation of the Hollywood film will take place in cinemas around the world this week.

The management of Park Cinema kindly invited the Azerbaijan Mountaineering Federation to take part in this presentation and share their impressions about this movie with the audience.

The film is based on a real event in May 1996. Then, three commercial expeditions, which included experienced climbers and tourists who had no experience of climbing in the Himalayas, decided to conquer the world's highest peak. This adventure ended in a tragedy - 15 people were killed.

In the room there were at least three people, who took part in expeditions to Mount Everest at different times. Israfil Ashurly, President of the Mountaineering Federation of Azerbaijan, is now the only Azerbaijani, who conquered the mountain. He shared his experiences and answered questions from the audience.

The main question consistently addressed to the climbers is the same: why do you need it? Apparently, the filmmakers wanted to partly answer this question and to describe the complicated human relationships in extreme expeditions. However, the artistic value of the movie is unlikely to be appreciated by the climbers.

In the film, the organizers and participants of the expedition look like amateurs who have gathered for a serious climb, but are not ready for this at all. The atmosphere at the base camp, where participants are drinking beer and whiskey, is more like a youth club, rather than the headquarters of a serious action.

But the movie quite clearly shows the ugly side of the so-called commercial mountaineering, where for a lot of money people totally unprepared are dragged up the mountain. However, the climbers are a group of crazy people who climb up, not understanding why. This extreme sport has its own rules and traditions, which are almost not shown in the movie.

Excellent shooting in the mountains and the 3D effect leave a lasting impression on the beauty of the Himalayas, enhanced by the audio capabilities of IMAX. The film is worth seeing at least for the sake of this beauty. -02B-