EVEREST ASCENT

CLIMBING AFTER OVERCOMING BARRIERS

by PETER THOMAS BUSCH

Why do people climb mountains takes a different turn for the first complete ascent of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world.

Director Jennifer Peedom takes a film crew to Nepal and back in time to 1953 when a British expedition arrives to be the first to climb the highest mountain.

That story is layered behind the story of the life of head Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, who was the first Sherpa to be accepted as a member of the climbing team, as opposed to leading the supply chain and guides taken from the area in support of the climb.

Peedom shows how Tenzing embarks on a deeply personal journey as he ascends life from a sacred Tibetan valley to the high regard of world leaders.

Genden Phuntsok plays the Tenzing that accompanied the expedition, but Peedom casts two other Tenzings for the compelling narrative that climbs from the near past into the future. Samdrup Dorje Lama plays the boy who meets George Mallory, while Tenzin Dalha plays the young adult Tenzing who transitions from a shepherd of Yaks to a Sherpa.

Time is used for a didactic purpose as Mount Everest is depicted in spirit form with spiritual significance for the Sherpas and villagers for whom the mountain resonates daily. Tenzing is shown to have reinforced that purpose of Everest belonging to Nepal and not to the foreign expedition teams.

Tom Hiddleston plays Edmund Hillary, who arrives to carry on what George Mallory had started several years earlier, and what other expedition teams from around the world, such as Switzerland, could not complete.

Hiddleston portrays Hillary as having a grand personality of the sort that legends are made, and of being joyful in climbing and content in life. This generous character enables Hillary to share the journey with Tenzing, in a mutually beneficial way.

Willem Dafoe plays expedition leader John Hunt, who was chosen for his military training and organizational skills. Dafoe transforms into this highly determined lead climber.

The narrative follows the expedition team but then continually folds back to the life of Tenzing, as he struggles to make a life for himself, such as losing his parents, then choosing a wife from a higher social class, and ultimately joining his first expedition team without prior experience as a Sherpa.

The script underscores several social barriers, such as Tenzing being considered an outsider by the Sherpas, and then leading the Sherpas on the expedition who are not treated equal to the climbing team.

Hillary is also considered an outsider on the climbing team, being from New Zealand, instead of being British, although treated unequally to a lesser degree as Tenzing. Hillary and Tenzing eventually team up as a climbing team within the expedition.

A score and vigorous dialogue exchanges underwrite the compelling story of how the British Expedition team became the first to ascend Everest.

The weather is a factor, with expedition teams having only a small window of opportunity to complete the climb before the monsoons begin and the wind storms and snow storms become too fierce to penetrate, especially at the high elevations.

The team must also train to acclimatize to the thin air at high elevations, even with the use of portable oxygen tanks.

The camera also creates a rich aesthetic, with scenes continually changing in composition as well as subject matter and light. And the film captures attention by being about more than just climbing, such as team dynamics and relationships between climbers and Sherpas.

Tenzing is an Apple Original film streaming on Apple TV+.