Everest

This week's movie rental was Everest ...

a 2015 biographical adventure drama film directed by Baltasar Kormákur ... starring an ensemble cast which features Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly, Sam Worthington, Keira Knightley, Emily Watson, and Jake Gyllenhaal .... It is based on the real events of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, and focuses on the survival attempts of two expedition groups, one led by Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) and the other by Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal)

I wanted to see the movie because I had tried but failed to read the book on which the movie is (or is not?) based, and also because I like a lot of the actors in the film. It was also visually beautiful, scenery-wise. But it was incredibly depressing ... almost everyone dies, and not in glorious and dramatic ways, but in often silent, unremarked, pointless ways .... the meaninglessness of their deaths and the indifference of nature was devastating, at least to me. I don't mean to say by this that the movie wasn't good - I think it's a testament to the great acting and well-told story that it affected me.

Richard Roeper liked it very much. Here's his video review of the film ...