The mountaineers climb for reasons that have little to do with nationalism - reasons the film clumsily attempts to articulate in words. It's far more successful conveying those inspirations with stunning images of them scaling daunting heights.

It's Kolja Brandt's gloriously edge-of-the-seat/seat-of-the-pants cinematography (much of the film was shot on location) that really packs a natural wallop.

A straightforward, wickedly suspenseful Man vs. Nature saga of the type that rarely gets made any more.

The most effective climbing thriller since Touching the Void.