If you go
“North Face”
3 out of 5 stars
Stars: Ulrich Tukur
Director: Philipp Stoelzl
Not rated
Running time: 126 minutes
In German with English subtitles
Just as the Winter Olympics wrap up, there comes a movie that also mixes sports, national pride and lots of snow. This story of harrowing Alpine adventure set before World War II may not take the gold as a must-see. But, much like the participants have in Vancouver, “North Face” gives it a good try. Directed and co-written by Philipp Stoelzl, with a screenplay also credited to four other writers, the diverting drama is based on a real incident. A mountainside in the Swiss Alps, the north face of a peak called Eiger, was proving not only insurmountable but also deadly to those who attempted to reach its top. It was 1936. The Nazis were ramping up their propaganda machine as Berlin was preparing to host the Olympics.
The collaborating editor of a Berlin newspaper, Henry Arau (Ulrich Tukur), hoped to show off Aryan superiority by hyping a race to the top. But for the two-man German team and two-man Austrian team who would end up vying to break Eiger, the challenge wasn’t about politics or even winning. It was about athletic prowess, determination, and friendship.
By midway into the climb, after one is injured, the men end up suspended from the sheer rock face as a massive blizzard hits. A fierce competition becomes a study in cooperation; a struggle to conquer nature becomes a struggle just to survive it.
It’s a fertile plot not just because it is supposedly true, but also because it comes with two worthy heroes for whom to root. The German competitors, the rugged Toni Kurz (attractive Benno Fuermann) and the more gregarious Andi Hinterstoisser (Florian Lukas), are portrayed as a couple of sweet country Bavarian pals. They mountaineer for its own sake and because they enjoy doing it together.
Giving the movie added heart but also affected melodrama, a fictional subplot was added: Toni’s childhood sweetheart Luise Fellner (Johanna Wokalek) happens to be an aspiring photojournalist assigned to cover the ascent. So, she just happens to be there, with a personal stake, when events take a turn for the worst. The action cuts between what’s happening on the mountain and the fancy hotel at its base as tourists and Henry and Luise track the climbers with telescopes.
The repetitive rapelling of the “North Face” gets a little repelling after awhile. But occasionally slow proceedings are tempered by our investment in the characters’ fate.
