Without pride, do you think you can do what we do?
I first saw this movie a few years ago, and it struck me at the time, both in the end and with some phrases about mountaineering. Some of the episodes are vividly remembered. After a recent second review, I am still impressed. The film is beautiful and video (unfortunately, the quality of available records for download leaves much to be desired) and musical accompaniment, very organically lying on the majestic views of the Alps. Initially, the film was shot for television, and only after its release on TV in 1975, it was translated into film and released in theaters. It is better to watch with French sound and subtitles.
Very truthfully and qualitatively reflected the everyday life of climbers, technical work on climbing (especially the use of FTO - artificial support points). The lack of helmets seems implausible now (but in the 1970s in the Alps it could be); and the simultaneous promotion of complex terrain, where the rules must be alternate insurance, can be attributed to artistic design (this looks more dynamic). However, for a non-specialist, this is insignificant.
All the ethical awkwardness associated with the journalistic craft is acutely felt. But the most difficult questions the film raises are questions of conscience, personal choice, pride, vanity and duty. After a thoughtful view, you understand that mountains do not kill people, no, people in the mountains are killed by their vices, or even small wrong decisions due to certain personal qualities. While it is impossible to say who is to blame for the deaths shown to us and whether they could have been prevented (or rather could), Michel Servoz’s last words seem to make it clear that he felt guilty. In addition, he does not deny the accusation of the second client, but utters this eerie and magnificent phrase about pride, given in the epigraph.
The film does not have such a constant emotional intensity as, for example, in the “North Wall”, but it will still not let you get bored for a minute. Especially after it becomes clear who Servoz's second partner in the bundle is.
The end is certainly shocking. Together with the main character, we feel the sticky horror of this abyss and the complete hopelessness of the situation.
Acting without complaints, it is worth noting that Pierre Rousseau, who played Servoz, was highly appreciated by the famous French climber Maurice Erzog (who was the first to climb the eight thousandth), and this is expensive. Unsurprisingly, the film aroused the desire of many to go mountaineering: it is simple and piercing at the same time, and if people like Michelle Servoz exist in reality, it is mountaineering that makes them so.
9 out of 10