In 2010 an amazing German climbing film called North Face saw a limited release here in the U.S. It chronicled the true story of an early attempt to scale the North Face of the Eiger in Switzerland in back in1936 when it was a matter of national pride as to who would claim a first ascent. The movie follows two mountaineers, Toni Kurz and Andi Hinterstoisser, who set out to scale the Eiger in the name of German pride. The two men get into a bit of a competition with two Austrian climbers to see who will be able to claim the summit first. Before too long the two teams have to join forces as they end up battling for their lives on one of the most brutal and unforgiving mountains in all of Europe.You can read my thoughts on the film from when I originally saw it back in 2010 here. In brief, I thought that it was excellent and was amazed at the acting and action, not to mention the attention to detail in the gear that the men used in the climb. In 1936 their equipment might have been state of the art, but you'll find it down right primitive. That adds to the level of tension throughout this film. Since I first saw it three years ago, I have caught the film a couple of more times and I've actually come to believe it is one of the best climbing movies ever made. If you haven't seen it, I'd urge you to do so. I think you'll find it is every bit as gripping and intense as I do.
On Tuesday of this week (June 25) North Face gets released on BluRay for the first time and I've been lucky enough to see it before its hits stores. As you would expect, the visuals look amazing in high definition and the sound is fantastic as well. The scenes on the mountain are simply stunning and the picture quality is pristine. Watching it alone this past weekend I found myself drawn into the story once again as the disc really enhances the experience.
If you would like to add a copy of North Face to your library, I have two BlueRay discs to have away. To win a copy for yourself, all you have to do is send me an email to [email protected] with a subject line of "North Face". In the body of the email, just tell me the name of the mountain they are climbing in the film. That's it! I'll take entries all week long and late in the day on Friday I'll pick two names to receive the BlueRay disc. That time frame is a bit shorter than when I've run some contests in the past, but I'm heading out of the country next week and I want to be sure I get these discs sent out to the winners before I go.
Good luck to everyone! I'll be posting some reminders throughout the week.
