Movie Review: “Meru” Reaches The Summit Of Bold Documentary Filmmaking

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Three elite climbers struggle to find their way through obsession and loss as they attempt to climb Mount Meru, one of the most coveted prizes in the high stakes game of Himalayan big wall climbing.

In October, 2008, renowned alpinist Conrad Anker, along with fellow daredevils Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk, arrived in India to tackle Meru, a 21,000-foot summit in Northern India. The notoriously difficult climb is riddled with absurd obstacles, such as the 4,000 excruciating feet leading up to a “smooth, clean, nearly-featureless” Shark’s Fin, a vertical cliff, on top of which rests the much sought-after summit.

Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s visceral account of the trio’s adventure doesn’t beat around the bush. The very first shot sees them sleeping in a tent strapped to a steep precipice, virtually frozen under layers of clothes and sleeping bags. The next scene finds our heroes climbing – at night! – up a treacherous cliff, as an ethereal dawn descends upon them. It’s a quiet and breathtaking opening to a deeply exhilarating film.

The characters’ rich backgrounds unravel as the story progresses. Conrad, the leader, calls mountain-climbing the most dangerous extreme sport, and excitedly states: “Meru is a combination of all I’ve done and all I’ve wanted to do.” His wife, Jenny, seems to get her husband’s passion but then, as his family history deepens, the stakes rise. Renan is described as borderline homeless, an insane climber and artist, who takes part in any expedition offered to him. And then there’s Jimmy, a climber and filmmaker, who’s photographed both K2 and Mount Everest. His parents escaped from China during the Communist revolution, coming to the U.S. to build a new life, and had high expectations from him, his father particularly tough, shaping him into a hardened, impassioned man. Jimmy’s mother made him promise not to die before her…

Famous climber and author Jon Krakauer (“Into Thin Air”) adds extra validity to the film, providing an articulately reverential narration to their journey; he describes the peak as “the point where heaven and earth and hell all come together.” He points out that Jimmy and Conrad have climbed Mt. Everest four or five times; Jimmy even skied off the top. But Meru is different – there’s no sherpas to hire, to help carry stuff and secure the ropes. You’re on your own.

Our climbers’ planned seven-day trip turned into a 20-day odyssey, bringing them to within 100 meters of the elusive summit. Each carried a 200-pound load, most of which was meant for the last high-altitude stretch, where the body needs significantly more energy to keep functioning. Yet an unexpected storm came, delaying their climb by days and depleting more than half of their food supply before they even got to the halfway point. Conrad’s persistence in attempting to reach the summit against all odds (they split their last frozen cubes of cheese, roasting them over fire) turned into severe disappointment when he realized that there was no way they could succeed. So close and yet so far…In Conrad’s own words: “The center of the universe is…unattainable.” They came back with frostbite, blackened and bloodied feet (a condition called trench foot); Jimmy was confined to a wheelchair for a while…Yet Conrad was possessed, already planning their next Meru climb.

After another famous alpinist failed to reach the summit of Meru, Conrad took it as a sign: time to try again. But a series of horrid events occurred: Renan received a severe head injury during a skiing/shooting project, which almost killed him. Jimmy got mauled by an avalanche, and miraculously survived. The two events shook the crew up – especially Jimmy, who, for a while, was in a “bad way, psychologically.” Conrad himself had lost a friend in an avalanche during an earlier climb, an event that haunts him to this day (he is now married to the friend’s wife, who is clearly attracted to alpinists).

So the decision to go back wasn’t easy. In 2011, the three of them ventured into hell again, under even harsher circumstances: equipment shattered; Renan broke down emotionally (but overcame his demons and became the team’s leader); icy blizzards scarred their bodies; and an overdose of couscous almost happened. The final moments of the film, albeit brief, are sublimely powerful.

With no reenactments, no fancy visual embellishments (save for one, helpful tracing of their route), “Meru” is about as raw, nerve-shredding and, for lack of a better word, authentic as documentaries get. The fact that the trio filmed their own adventures under the harshest circumstances a human being can possibly endure – and that those shots are so overwhelmingly gorgeous – is astonishing. Without preaching or getting sappy, this is a straightforward account of three men’s perseverance in the face of insurmountable obstacles, both emotional and physical.

I did wonder why the filmmakers decided not to show the alpinists’ descents, which, as far as I know, having read Krakauer’s book, may be even more treacherous. But that’s a minor flaw in a transcendent parable on human endurance, friendship, obsession and a ceaseless passion for exploration. Hopefully, films like “Meru,” or its thematic brothers “Touching the Void” and “Man on Wire,” will inspire folks to get out of their grey cubicles and challenge themselves, for the world is a wondrous, magnificent and fragile place, and our lives are fleeting. Films likes this makes one wonder why so many of us wage wars, pollute, run massive corrupt corporations – or, for that matter, surrender ourselves to what we established as “societal norms,” the day-to-day nuclear existences. Whatever drives Conrad, Jimmy and Renan to keep risking they lives, those guys are badasses, the few remaining true explorers among us, and their feats should be applauded. If the Academy Award voters have any sense left in them, “Meru,” along with “Cartel Land” (see my review here) and “The Look of Silence,” will be contenders this year.

“Meru” opens in select theaters and at the Angelika Dallas & Angelika Plano August 28th