Sherpa
(2015/Lionsgate DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: C Documentary: B+
Mt.
Everest, the highest mountain in the world. Each year, climbers have
dared to climb it at the risk of life and limb, just to see what it
looks like from the top of the world, but that is what the most of us
hear, of those who tried to climb the mountain ...the successes, the
failures... what we don't hear or know is of those who make it
possible, the Sherpas. The Sherpas are the mountain people who live
around Everest, nomads and outcasts originally ...but now they are
the guides who help guide those up the mountain, Jennifer Peedon's
Sherpa (2015) is their story.
Every
year, people die trying to climb Mt. Everest. But what they don't
tell is those who helping those who climb them. The Sherpa people
are one of the original climbers to Mt. Everest, now their entire
race, village and livelihood depends on them as guides/supply runners
for the tourists. They are the ones who help supply and run the base
camps, they bring food, water, the heat, the training, even air. A
single Sherpa could climb the mountain over 30 times a year to help
bring supplies up the mountain. In 2013, they got into a fight with
visitors and in 2014, an avalanche killed over 16 Sherpas. The
government profits millions each year from tourists coming to Mt
Everest, and now after generations of indentured service the Sherpa
people demands government to help make more safety for it's climbers
and it's people.
Climbing
Mt. Everest has also turned into a multi-million dollar business. The
government charges millions from tourists all over the world without
lifting a finger, but the real work is done by the Sherpa people.
But after the 2014 tragedy, they demanded government aid after an
avalanche took the lives 16 men and compensation for their families.
The government was afraid of losing their clients/profit, the
tourists afraid of losing their chances to climb Mt. Everest, and the
Sherpa afraid for their lives and families.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image (shot in several so-so digital
cameras) and lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 sound are watchable, but the
footage is undeniably rough throughout, so don't expect IMAX quality
or stability, like an actual title shot in the film format or a few
other previous documentary entries in that mode. Extras include The
Making of Sherpa and Deleted Scenes.
-
Ricky Chiang
