As a devoted armchair aficionado of extreme mountaineering (re., somebody without the fortitude to conquer Everest myself), I take a keen interest in both first-person literature of mountain expeditions, and the rare documentary film that allows me to live vicariously in the climber’s boots (and crampons). Before viewing the new film, “Touching the Void,” I had never heard of the story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, nor had I realized that Siula Grande had not been conquered. In the day and age of world-wide mountain conquests, I had assumed that all of the big mountain faces had long been successfully climbed.

Coincidentally, on the same weekend that I first screened the film I also worked my way through Simpson’s brief 1988 book that told the story, also titled “Touching the Void.” The story is one survival under the most daunting of conditions, making the reader realize that if he was not aware of Simpson’s current living-and-breathing status, he would not have believed that the man made it off of the mountain alive – read the book or see the film (or both) to see what I mean.

Aside from the survival story itself, Simpson’s story is remarkable for the matter-of-fact way in which he tells it. This sentiment is delivered clearly both in the book and in the film’s interviews with Simpson in person and many viewers have criticized both Simpson and his partner Yates for their lack of sentimentality in dealing with a harrowing and (presumably) life-altering experience. Yet the matter-of-fact approach actually provides greater insight into the minds of these two men, and into those climbers (and other extreme sport enthusiasts) who cheat death on a regular basis. Simply put, they do not think about death as the average person one, and simply accept its possibility as one of the possible outcomes of participating in their sport.

Documentary producer Kevin Macdonald painstakingly re-creates the 1985 adventure in the Peruvian Andes by presenting Simpson’s and Yates’ own words, but also filming two climbers actually on the mountain, working their way through the very challenges that they faced in reality. The cinematography is on par with the IMAX film, “Everest,” and presents perhaps the most gripping and beautiful portraits of one of the most foreboding mountain range’s in the world. “Touching the Void” is essential viewing in its cinematic form, and will undoubtedly inspire legions of fans to pick up a copy of Simpson’s excellent book.