Screened Out – Meru

[five-star-rating]Documentary by Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarheyli[/five-star-rating]

What drives people to try the impossible?

The very first shot of Meru would make most audiences ask that while shaking their heads. A tent clings to the 90-degree side of a granite mountain, 1800 stories above sea level. A blizzard of snow whirls around, the wind ripping at the fabric. Three men wait inside – either for death or for the opportunity to finish climbing a sheer rock face that most experts say is not climbable.

Meru Peak – the “Shark’s Fin” – is a 21,000-foot Himalayan Mountain that that marks the headwaters of the Ganges River. It’s considered an even more difficult climb than Everest. On Everest, Sherpas will carry your stuff, hook your ropes, and take most of the risks for you. On Meru, you must carry 200 pounds of equipment yourself, so that you can scale glacial snow, ice walls, and that intimidating barrier of pure granite. There are over 100 bodies still on Everest; one guesses that many people haven’t been stupid enough to try Meru.

A few years ago, world-famous Conrad Anker took his best climbing buddy Jimmy Chin and less experienced enfant terrible Renan Ozturk to Meru. Aker had failed before, not understanding the equipment required. This time they were going to take it slow, with all the tools they could possibly need.

Documentaries like this are often called “inspiring,” because people are pushing themselves to their physical limit sand taking on quixotic quests. However, some of us could easily call this “supreme stupidity.”

Meru is beautifully filmed – mostly by Chin and Ozturk. Chin also co-directs the film, along with Elizabeth Chai Vasarheyli, who previously oversaw a tender, lovely documentary about singer-musician Youssou Ndour. Meru’s editing deliciously builds tension, switching between the climbs these men go on and their backstories – what motivates them to do such crazy things.

Author Jon Krakauer provides commentary. He’s a close friend of Anker’s, after having written about one of the climber’s Everest trips. Krakauer fills in information on Anker’s impressive resume. He also explains why the climb up the Shark’s Fin is so daunting. His voice is filled with awe and incredulousness; after writing Into Thin Air and Into the Wild, he understands and admires these men.

One might expect that people who attempt these things suffer from hubris or madness…or both. Yet, there doesn’t seem to be any here. Anker and his team seem levelheaded and kind to each other, even when faced with death and debilitating injuries. They try – again and again – knowing that conquering this one peak won’t keep them from trying others later.

[rating-key]

Meru is awesome in the very sense of the word. There are no fancy graphics or camera tricks, just three men hanging off the side of an formidable, imposing mountain, pointing their cameras as they attempt the impossible. It might chill you to the bone or fill you with vertigo. It’s a thrilling movie, especially for people like me, who are perfectly fine watching it all from the comfort of a cozy theater seat.