Touching_the_Void

“Touching the Void is a triumph of the human spirit.” Do you agree with this statement' Touching the Void directed by Kevin McDonald, is a true story about two British climbers who face an almost impossible journey, where their survival instinct and absolute courage triumph the human spirit over mother natures battle. By the use of documentary style both Joe Simpson and Simon Yates narrate their story. Through this and the use of a variety of film techniques, such as camera angles and music, the triumph of the human spirit is shown to the audience. Survival instinct is a strong theme shown throughout the film Touching the Void. Both climbers, Joe and Simon are faced with situations where they have to make a life or death decision. This uncovers their survival instinct and in the end reveals the triumph of their own human spirit. Simon and Joe are attached by a single rope and after no sign that Joe is alive, Simon’s survival instinct tell him to cut the rope and save himself. Without Simon making this decision the human spirit would not have triumphed over their losing battle. Both Simon and Joe would have died, but because of Simon’s instinct he won the fight. When the rope is cut Joe falls into a crevasse. He is still alive but he has to make a decision to either fight back or leave himself to die. With a broken leg and only the tools in his backpack he moves on: “Rather then just sit here and feel sorry for myself… I’ll get on with it” Touching the Void is a triumph of the human spirit because both Simon and Joe mentally brought themselves back to life. The theme survival instinct is shown through the use of camera angles, such as close ups on equipment and both climbers faces, showing their emotions and their ideas in which they are thinking of how to overcome the circumstances they are in. Courage is another theme shown throughout Touching the Void. It is a theme that shows the triumph of the human spirit because without Joe and Simon believing in themselves, and trying to fight to stay alive, they wouldn’t, in the end, triumph over their almost impossible battle. The use of a documentary styled film affectively reflects the triumph of the human spirit, by switching back and forth from the re-enactments to the interview. The documentary style reveals the triumph of the human spirit through the thoughts and emotions expressed to the audience that both Joe and Simon go through and by watching and experiencing the situations through the use of re-enactments. Music is used in the film to create an atmosphere and therefore express an emotion. In Touching the Void the music used, reflects the triumph of the human spirit because it helps shape the story. When Joe and Simon are struggling to stay alive or have a big decision or situation to face the music is deep, dark and gloomy. However, when Joe climbs out of the crevasse or when Simon makes it back to base camp, the music is light and uplifting creating an atmosphere of complete joy, this represents the triumph of the human spirit. In Touching the Void, certain camera angles and shots help express the triumph of the human spirit. An example being, when Joe and Simon reach the top of the mountain the camera pans out and loops around them, showing their freedom, the spectacular view, and the long journey they faced to get there, and now face to get back. It shows their triumph because they are standing on the top of the mountain, and have won the climb to the top. Another example would be when Joe finally climbs his way out of the crevasse. The camera shows close ups on his face as he is smiling with joy because he triumphed over his very hard situation. In conclusion, Touching the Void is a triumph of the human spirit because mother nature’s power was fought and won over by the human spirit alone. Simon Yates and Joe Simpson were mountain climbers who used courage and survival instinct to fight back and triumph over the treacherous mountain they faced. By the use of a documentary style film, the use of camera angles and music the audience can see that Touching the Void is triumph of the human spirit because the camera angles show the RELATED TEXT ABC’s Enough Rope television program interviews Aron Raslton about his triumph over his own battle. In 2003, Aron was hiking in America, when a boulder falls and traps his arm between it and a wall of rock. For six days he runs through options he can take to try and get himself out, but after recording goodbye messages on a recorder for his family he leaves a RIP' engraved on the boulder an awaits himself to die. Instead of dying, Aron has a vision of his life in the future. And this is how he came about fighting back against mother nature. “it gave me the strength to get through…”