Meru (2015)

Simply Perfect

As Good As It Gets

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

First of all, as climber I will say that I will not detract the climbing in itself, which would be remarkable. The same applies to photography and music which are at a good level.When I see this documentary, instead of seeing a story about a more or less objective climbing, i find quite self-glorification:For instance"High mountaineering is very risky, it is the Most Dangerous professional sport". "Meru definitely had a reputation as impossible climb". "this is the mountain That everyone's tried and failed on". "This climb has seen more Attempts and more failures than any route of Himalaya" "some of the best climbers in the world Have tried and failed on" ...etc, etc....It's a shame because the climbing is good by itself, and all the gimmicky stuff does anything but to take away the credibility.i have the feeling that someone tries to sell me something, namely: "we are heroes", "Our families are suffering because of our climbing"... is this really necessary...?It is clear that this movie is intended for the general public (who is not into climbing).

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)Rating: 4.6/5 starsVisually mesmerizing and stirred by a narrative that's more gripping than several big-budget features, "Meru" is that rare documentary that proves thought-provoking while offering thrilling wide-screen vistas. It's a triumph of editing and narrative beyond "are you kidding me?" visuals - cinematographers Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk, who're also two of the trio of gallants who attempt to scale the unconquered peak Meru, capture both the astonishing views from the top of the world and soul-searching moments inside a cramped tent dangling from the side of the mountain like a used tea bag.In the high-stakes pursuit of big-wall climbing, the Shark's Fin on Mount Meru may be the ultimate prize. Sitting 21,000 feet above the sacred Ganges River in Northern India, the mountain's perversely stacked obstacles make it both a nightmare and an irresistible calling for some of the world's toughest climbers. In October 2008, renowned alpinists Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk arrived in India to tackle Meru. Their planned 7-day trip quickly spiraled into a 20- day hazardous odyssey in sub-zero temperatures with depleting food rations. Despite making it to within 100 meters of the elusive summit, their journey, like everyone before them, was not a successful one. Heartbroken and defeated, the trio returned to their everyday lives, where the siren song of Meru continued to beckon. By September 2011, the three inseparable friends resolved to undertake the insurmountable challenge of the Shark's Fin once again, under even more extraordinary circumstances than their first attempt. "Meru" is the extraordinary true story of that journey; an expedition through nature's harshest elements and one's complicated inner demons, and ultimately on to impossible new heights.Watching these three men fight for every foot of altitude is far more exhausting and far more inspiring than seeing a superhero defy gravity - there's something indubitably cool about a bunch of real- life daredevils who stare death unflinchingly in the face. You can't help but ask yourself, "Are these guys nuts?" "Are their egos needy of self-affirmation?" "Or is there some higher purpose they seek in such inexplicable endeavors?" "What drives these men?" "Do some people just have a genetic need to live on the edge?" "Or is it just the love for the sport and the thrill?" "Is that they just can't rest easy without knowing if they can pull it of?""Meru" has it all - high adventure, breathtaking shots, and some incredibly tense moments skillfully interwoven with effective use of biographical material that offers accessible emotions of these elusively intrepid souls who challenge one of the toughest mountain routes in the world. It is a soul-stirring adventure to its very core with enough gut-wrenching sequences and stunningly beautiful vistas to thrill theater-seat adventurers and hardcore extreme- sports addicts alike.

Divorce can crush you.No, I'm not talking about Meru. That's the lead I wish I'd written for my commentary on Her. www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/reviews-734But IMDb won't let me revise my commentary, because I hit the max tweaks IMDb allows.So, undaunted—a fan of non sequitur, incongruity, Russian Formalist "strange-making," and eccentric creative leaps!—I won't bury the lead this time. Even though the lead doesn't go with Meru. I know, go figure.But I did get something right in my Her commentary: I introduced the concept that I call The Symbolic Triangle.Her spins around a One-Word Theme*: Divorce. The only way through the dark labyrinth of divorce? Acceptance. Her presents a Rite of Passage story that requires the hero, Theo Twombley, to move through the heartache and grief of divorce into an emotional space where he accepts his fate.And the simple geometry of Her's story triangle helps us see through the sizzle to the substance of the movie's deft thematic structure.THE SYMBOLIC TRIANGLE. 1. TITLE: Her (secondarily, the digital-woman played by Scarlett Johansson—the attractive distractor; primarily, Catherine, the real-life woman who dumps the story's hero). 2. ONE-WORD THEME: Divorce. 3. HERO'S NAME: Theo Twombley (screenwriter Spike Jonze's artfully chosen name, which I translate: "A Man For Whom Women Are 'Deities Unknown'").Which brings us to Meru.Meru prompted me to reconfigure the geometry. I shifted to an iconic geometry shared by architecture, painting, literature, and cinema—the archetypal shape of windows, walls, and rooms, of canvases, books, and movie screens.Enter —THE SYMBOLIC RECTANGLE.Anchored by four cornerstones of thematic unity crucial to the art of story design:1. TITLE | 2. ONE-WORD THEME | 3. SPECIAL WORLD | 4. HERO'S NAMESame as The Symbolic Triangle—except I added Special World.I learned about the Special World from David McKenna​, who co-wrote with Christopher Vogler​ the book ​"Memo from the Story Department," in which Vogler presents the concept "one word theme​.​" I took David's screen writing course at Columbia University. And one day during a class break, we walked and talked. I'd just watched All the President's Men, and I asked David, "What's the Special World?" Now, I was thinking along the lines of The Washington Post, Investigative Journalism, Political Corruption, Abuse of Power...You get the picture.So imagine my surprise when David said, "The Wasp & the Jew." Ah! Woodward & Bernstein. That blew me away. And stuck.My contenders for the Special World of All the President's Men play a role in story design: ARENA. And thanks to Barbara Nicolosi, who unpacks this concept in her screenwriter talks (catharsis.com), we can distinguish between Special World and Arena.But where does Arena fit into The Symbolic Rectangle? Well, I had to mull that over. And I didn't want to turn the rectangle into a pentagon. For symbolic reasons, rectangle makes wayyyyy more sense. As an architect, a painter, and a screenwriter, no way I'm going to base my work on a pentagon! So it hit me: Make the Arena the space defined by the four corners of The Symbolic Rectangle.Think of a story's Arena as Central Park. Or as The Lawn at UVA. The space the sacred space defined by the perimeter. The stage on which the drama unfolds.Back to Meru.THE SYMBOLIC RECTANGLE: MeruFour Corners:1. TITLE: Meru—Meru means "High"2. ONE-WORD THEME: Trust3. SPECIAL WORLD: Team4. HERO'S NAME: Conrad Anker—German origins: Conrad means "bold" and rad "counsel" (rad: "very appealing, good radical"). Anker means "anchor"—a person who provides strength and support.Space:5. ARENA: Mountain ClimbingSure, Meru's a documentary, but the filmmakers clearly signal their awareness of story-design concepts encompassed by The Symbolic Rectangle. (Talk about luck for the hero's name!)Meru tells a story about a trio of brave-beyond-measure mountaineers. But Meru also tells a story about us. Because as Robert McKee says in his workshop and book, Story, every movie is a metaphor for life. A metaphor for my life and your life.Meru sends us the message: To reach our high goal, we too must act boldly—guided by radical good counsel—and provide strength and support for a team in whom we place our trust.Meru asks: Like Conrad Anker and his team, do you have the wherewithal, courage, and bold character to sacrifice everything to achieve your worthy ideal? And when your goal's finally within reach, do you have the humility, wisdom, and grit it takes to retreat? Like the mountain climbers—and filmmakers—did just 150 feet short of the summit? (The filmmakers didn't have a movie after team Anker's 2008 unsuccessful climb.) Or are you so hypnotized by your goal that you blunder, ignoring wise counsel, your inner GPS? Do you have the brains, heart, and guts to hit the reset button? To regroup? To "fail, fail again, fail better," as Samuel Beckett put it? Can you endure an ordeal that doubles or triples in magnitude as you scale your mountain?Because a mountain can crush you.Meru's heroic story impels us to more fully realize our own heroic story. We climb to the summit of the human spirit. And return to base camp transformed, dumbstruck by a team of people powered by audacity, tenacity, foresight, mettle, and trust. And love.McKenna taught me, "The only power of a storyteller is to withhold."Where does WITHHOLD fit into The Symbolic Rectangle? First take: the Perimeter—the line that connects the four corners and outlines the Arena. Because that line? That's a story's Power Line.Dimension six of The Symbolic Rectangle.Meru's Perimeter?6. WITHHOLD: (See the movie.)______________________________________* See "Memo from the Story Department," by Christopher Vogler & David McKenna© Copyright 2015 by JEF7REY HILDNER

This is a beautiful documentary i have watched in a while now. To decide to fail after 17 days at 20000ft at the first attempt and to go back and scale the Meru its breathtaking. I don't know how they manage to take video of this assent. The hanging Tent scenes, the panoramic Himalayas is just beautiful and. First i thought it was another normal dramatized movie, but there is no drama in it, Just the real story and the narration will hold you on. You also gasp for breath in between and skip couple of heart beats at sometimes.Its about the passion, its challenging, its unbelievable, its inspiring. Like it says , "Its unpredictable,dangerous and unknown"