Werner Herzog

Hans Kammerlander crowned Manaslu in 2017, along with Stephan Keck, and skied down through a new route. That’s the way these two great mountaineers found redemption after the tragedies they went through on that same mountain years before. With archive footage, interviews and magnific dramatic reconstructions, the film goes through Kammerlander’s greatest achievements and his most painful losses. He is one of the greatest alpinists in history, who keeps asking himself how and why he survived while his best friends passed away in the mountain.

Questions are kept in mind: what impelled and drove the people into these extreme landscapes, onto such dangerous heights? What do they get from the mountains and what do they do to the mountains? These questions are the basis for this two hour documentary. This is the first film which takes a unique and comprehensive approach to this extensive subject. There is no commentary necessary, as the protagonists giving their account of the cultural history are experts in their field and quite charismatic personalities. This documentary film is not only conveyed through the lavish pictures or alpinistic enthusiasm, but through the individuals narrating each chapter.

In the summer of 1984 Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander attempted to climb two eight-thousanders (Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II) during the same expedition. The challenge: to make it in seven days, without interruption, without oxygen, without sophisticated equipment and without descending to the base camp. This makes Messner an ideal subject for filmmaker Werner Herzog: he is an obsessive man who carries out useless plans under extreme conditions. The film is not so much concerned with showing the climb itself or giving guidelines on mountaineering, but seeks to reveal the inner motivation of the climbers.

Cerro Torre is the most difficult peak on earth and the greatest alpine challenge. Roccia is the greatest, most experienced mountain climber in the world, conqueror of all the world’s highest mountains. Martin, on the other hand, is the world’s top rated sports climber and the most outstanding representative of a new generation of mountain climbers. When the death of a mutual friend in an attempt to climb the mountain, and a love rivalry divides them, it results in a bitter climbing duel. The struggle between the youth and the veteran will pay off with dramatic results.