North Face
Dir: Phillipp Stözl
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Music Box Films
126 Minutes
North Face, Phillipp Stözl's film about a 1936 attempt to scale Switzerland's deadly Eiger peak is the most effective climbing thriller since Touching the Void, with enough majestic cinematography, close calls and death-defying stunts to thrill any adrenaline junkie. Unfortunately, the build-up to the film's second half is nowhere nearly as exhilarating.
Set in Nazi Germany, North Face is about the race between a German and Austrian team to reach the top of the perilous mountain, "the last problems of the Alps." With the Olympics coming, such a victory would not only set a place in the history books, but be a stunning triumph of Aryan superiority.
Stözl focuses on Toni (Benno Fürmann) and Andi (Florian Lucas), two lifelong friends from Bavaria. Unlike many other young men of the time, Toni and Andi are more interested in climbing mountains than subscribing to Hitler's theory of a master race. But while Andi is seduced by the opportunity to climb Eiger's deadly north face, Toni reluctantly agrees to a task that has never been accomplished but killed some of Germany's best climbers. As the two begin the perilous trek, they are joined by a rival faction from Austria (Georg Friedrich and Simon Schwarz) whose involvement becomes more troublesome than just pure competition.
But while North Face works best when these four men battle rock slides, avalanches, July blizzards and one another, Stözl also tells the story of Luise (Johanna Wokelek), a neophyte journalist who grew up with Toni and Andi and seeks them out to climb Eiger. Along with her Reich-obsessed sleazebag editor (Ulrich Tukur), Luise and many others wait at a hotel at the base of Eiger, watching as the men ascend the peak.
The sacrifice of young men for nation is the not-so-subtle subtext here and Stözl would have been better off focusing on the harrowing journey of Toni and Andi. Instead, the tense action is intercut with footage of fat aristocrats stuffing their faces and blabbering about the Aryan nation while the four men freeze out on the peak. When the men decide to head back after a brutal accident, the editor tells Luise that either a victory or horrible tragedy would make the trip worthwhile and that backing down is worth nothing more than a few lines on page three.
For those willing to wait out the unnecessary exposition and grandstanding, North Face is a gripping and terrifying journey. We all know what is in store for Germany in the coming years, but it's a loaded gun Stözl keeps returning to time and time again. Too bad he isn't more like Luise, who eventually learns that humanism trumps hyperbole any day. As the four men begin to die on that horrifying mountain face, it is more fulfilling to be out there with them, experiencing the strength of the human spirit, than eating a fancy dinner in the restaurant below and just talking about it.
by David Harris
