North Face

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Courtesy of Music Box Films
Germany, Austria • 2008 • in German w/ English subtitles • 121 min • Not Rated

Based on a true story, NORTH FACE is a gripping adventure drama about a competition to climb the most dangerous rock face in the Alps. In 1936, Nazi propaganda urges German Alpinists to conquer the unclimbed north face of the Swiss massif, the Eiger, bringing two reluctant climbers, Toni Kurz and Andi Hinterstoisser, to begin their daring ascent and attempt to scale the infamous rock face, often called the Murder Wall. While preparing themselves at the foot of the North Face, Toni and Andi unexpectedly run into Luise, the early love of Toni. Now a journalist, she has come with her boss Arau, a loyal Nazi, to report about the first ascent.

With NORTH FACE, director and scriptwriter Philipp Stölzl, a multi-talented and soughtafter opera, music video, commercial and feature-film director, has succeeded in newly defining the genre of the mountain film and transposing it to the 21st century.

Club reactions by city:

moderated by Matthew Bernstein
with guest Stephen Schaefer, Boston Herald Film Critic

Dramatic and moving depiction of the simplicity and complexity of mountain climbers' motivations in their daring pursuits. But I was really pulling for a happy romantic ending...

This film was incredibly realistic at portraying the suspenseful drama of the climb--unfortunately, it was so good at this that it was excruciating for me to watch.

Riveting – great job of maintaining suspense and holding my attention. Fascinating how talented they had to be – creating (making their pitons). Also impressive was their ability to strategize and how their decisions had life-death ramifications. Great job with the music to create drama and suspense!

moderated by Brittain Smith

Powerful, I was totatly wrung out at the end. Thank you. Spectacular. How did they do it? Very gripping movie.

Tense and gripping. I need a tranquilizer. This was amazing. Cinematography was great. On the edge of my seat.

Wow! Amazing cinematography.

moderated by Mike Budd

Extremely tense but excellent.

Awesome but I'm exhausted watching this movie.

Convinced me to never go mountain climbing!

moderated by Patrice Petro and Gilberto Blasini

Overall, a riveting, terrifying film. You could feel the cold wind and snow while the climbers were up the mountains.

Good suspense! Nice keeping with the period.

Kept my interst until the very end. Not many foreign films do that for me.

moderated by John MacKay

A nail-biting, brutally honest action film. And people think the 'Saw' movies are torture!

Compelling, nerve-wracking, unrelenting. Beautiful contrast between scenes of Eiger and down below. Excellent color contrasts (white/gray-reds) and moral contrasts. Music and cinemtography great as well.

Excellent - the back and forth between warmth and cold, from safety to harsh and unforgiving nature caused my emotions to shift from relaxed and comfortable to tense and hopeful.

moderated by Peter L. Stein

'A real cliffhanger,' to coin a bad pun. Hardly relaxing, though - my stomach is still in knots and my heart is still racing!

Very suspenseful, most realistic climbing film I've seen, though it needed a good editor. I thought the politics of the time were depicted at an appropriate level.

Unbelievable and fascinating and stressful. Absolutely correct balance between the story and the depiction of the politics of the time.

moderated by Harper Barnes

This is one of the most intense movies I have ever seen. Fabulous! Exhausting!

Very suspenseful, credible film. . .effective use of sound and momentary silence. Technically accomplished, without looking like 'special effects.'

Cinematography was the star! Contrast between the drama on the mountain and the hotel below was stunning. (Anyone who climbs mountains must be insane.)

moderated by Peter Brunette

I climbed that mountain with them – I'm exhausted!

This is a great movie, which can be watched at several levels: history, love story, adventure/thriller, and an outstanding vehicle for capturing the zeitgeist of pre-WWII nazi Germany and the attitudes that led them to national catastrophe.

It was an exhausting film to watch. I liked it in spite of my aversion to action films.