New Film About 1936 Eiger Drama

Sunday's Independent carried a story about a new German film called North Face, which is based on the dramatic 1936 attempts to conquer the North Face of the Eiger.

The film, says the paper, is a landmark for German cinema, because for so long, historic German mountain films have been stalked by the shadow of Nazism to the point where the genre was 'irrevocably tainted' by association and had become part of the Nazi propaganda machine.

The film, made by Munich-born Philip Stoelzl follows the tragic attempt on the route by Kurz and Hinterstoisser which culminated in the awful death of Kurz suspended helplessly just beyond the reach of rescuers trying to reach him from the railway tunnel which opens out onto the face.

Apparently before making the film, Stoelzl visited Touching The Void director, Kevin Macdonald to talk about how best to capture the drama of mountaineering for the big screen and, as a result, as with Void, the film was shot in the high mountains with Stoelzl suggesting that he aimed for a look of 'war photography', with the audiences meant to feel that they're with the 1930s climbers with their basic clothing and equipment.

Interesting article that's well worth a read. Released on 12 December - more details when we have one. See http://www.independent.co.uk for the story. Media review at http://www.variety.com which dubs the film 'good but not great'.