'Crossing the Ice' and 'Honnold 3.0' inspire and terrify at BMFF

There were a couple of films this year at the Banff MountainFilm Festival that inspired and motivated me to plan my next climbing or mountaineering trip – and one that made me never want to climb again.

The one that jumps out immediately is “Crossing the Ice” – a film by two amateur adventurers, Aussies Justin Jones and James Castrission, who attempted to become the first team to walk from the edge of the Antarctic continent to the South Pole and back, entirely on their own steam.

No one had ever done it before, and they decided they would try. Of course they had to learn how to ski first, and prep for deadly cold temperatures, winds and completely unfamiliar terrain.

Jonesy and Cas are used to taking on massive challenges. In their previous effort they crossed the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand in a sea kayak, achieving another record with the nearly 1,400-kilometre journey.

But this was new territory for two Aussies with essentially no experience in the cold. And making matters worse, as their departure approached they learned that Norwegian exploration legend Aleksander Gamme was planning to attempt the same project at the exact same time. They were even on the same plan to the Antarctic.

While their mission seemed ill-fated to begin with – their food arrived late and Gamme gets a head start he really doesn’t need – you couldn’t help but root for the likable Aussies as they head out into the great white nothing, towing two giant sleds loaded with all their provisions and gear.

Days and days of whiteout conditions, blasting headwinds, fresh snow that made it possible to move their sleds just inches at a time, and a shortage of food are among the challenges they encounter. But their friendship, grit and willingness to just keep going is truly impressive.

When the pair celebrates Christmas, and Cas secretly decorates the tent with balloons, dons a Santa hat and presents his gift to Jonesy – weeks of meat rations that he has been saving for his friend – you can’t help but be touched.

And when Jonesy breaks down in tears, emotionally raw and physically battered from weeks on the ice, you feel his pain and just want to help.

Though the guys are ostensibly competing with Gamme (though really, it’s not a competition since he is just so much stronger and faster) a friendship also somehow develops, and they begin communicating by satellite phone, encouraging each other along the way.

When the end of the journey approaches, Cas and Jonesy essentially out of food and days and days overdue, there’s a beautiful moment when they see a speck far out and the ice and realize Gamme has waited for them.

Inspiring and epic – what a film. 

Honnold 3.0

At the opposite end of the spectrum was “Honnold 3.0,” a climbing film featuring Alex Honnold, who has quickly become one of the world’s most famous climbers since his successful free solo climb of Yosemite’s El Cap. That accomplishment led to a cover story in National Geographic, a 60 Minutes special and even a credit card commercial featuring Honnold and his girlfriend.

But despite all of that, he’s still a somewhat shy, nerdy climber used to living out of a van and travelling around looking for good crags to climb with no one really paying any attention to him.

The film begins with Honnold taking some time off to boulder and essentially “hide out” from any public attention.  At the same time, of course, he’s sending massive bouldering routes and climbing like a fiend.

But before long Honnold, who admits he’s not a great boulderer and can only compete by taking on terrifyingly hard routes that most climbers won’t touch,  returns to his stomping grounds – Yosemite -- and begins preparing for his next challenge.

He wants to do the Yosemite Triple, climbing Mt. Watkins, El Cap and Half Dome, all in a 24-hour period, meaning much of the climbing will be done at night, without ropes or support.

For much of the climbing, Honnold uses a long daisy chain – a nylon loop attached to his harness and used to connect into a bolt on the route. But since he has no rope with him, it’s a constant process of reaching a bolt, clipping in, feeling safe for a moment, then unclipping and moving on towards the next bolt.

He explains in the film that one of the hardest parts of the project was the constant emotional pendulum swing between being protected, and unprotected.

When the unclipping occurs thousands of feet off the ground, with dizzying exposure and massive drops out into nothing lying just one slip away, it’s enough to turn your stomach.

It’s just so scary. No one should climb like that, and Honnold is so likable and humble that quite honestly, you don’t want so see him die.

In the crux of one of the climbs, he unclips from a bolt and is attempting to reach the next safe point, stretching, but conscious of the fact he is becoming more unbalanced with every inch.

And then his foot slips. The entire audience at the Bloor Cinema held their breath, and somehow in that Alex Honnold way he refused to get excited, took a breath, regained his balance and finished the move perfectly.
Here's what it looked like:
 

Then he smiled at the camera in a “wow, I almost died….but I didn’t” kind of way and keeps climbing, eventually finishing the mission in 19 hours.

A friend told me every climbing film she saw at the Reel Rock festival inspired her to get out and climb, but “Honnold 3.0” made her never want to climb again. I didn’t feel quite the same way, but it definitely gave me a new appreciation for a rope.

Fly fishing in the Far East and other adventures at the Banff Mountain Film Festival

I made it into the Banff Mountain Film Festival Saturday night, but just barely. I had procrastinated buying tickets for two weeks, left it to the absolute last minute, and then, shocker, found out the event was sold out.

I was really mad at myself for not making it a priority, but more than that I was disappointed to miss the event, which I’ve seen nine out of the past 10 years.

But a last minute decision to try the box office an hour before the show, paid off.
The festival organizers (and Rock Oasis owners) had “a few” unadvertised tickets that hadn’t sold at one of the pre-sale outlets and I was able to get two! Oh man was I happy.

The festival never fails to inspire me to plan a trip, try a new sport, or just get out climbing or biking or hiking. (past write-ups here and here.)

The highlight of this year’s BMFF (at least on the Saturday night – Friday and Sunday had their own lineups) for me was a film called “Eastern Rises.”

One thing I always love about the festival is that it’s never willing to be constrained to a certain type of film. The theme is simply ‘outdoor’ films and that can manifest itself in a lot of different ways.

"Eastern Rises" by Ben Knight (FeltSoul media) was a film that didn’t fit in the normal extreme-adventure-adrenaline-junky category but that nonetheless embodied the spirit of the festival. It was about fly fishing in the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia.

At the start, Knight, who as I understand it shot, directed and narrated the film (thought there’s no IMDB listing and little more than a few random blog posts on the web thus far) explains that he was invited along on an epic fishing trip to the isolated and rugged, and mostly unfished far east of Russia.

But rather than make a beautiful, artsy exploration of the craft of fly fishing, he decided to make a more honest (and cynical and downright hilarious) picture about the trip – that includes fleeting shots of bigfoot, a box of sausages, scary helicopter rides, a Russian blonde in short shorts, and plenty of ridiculous conversations.

But there’s more than that too. The camera captures beautiful, striking, heart-rending moments that bring tears to the eyes of any fisherman or adventure seeker.

The film was poetry to watch, and had me reminiscing about guiding summers at North Star Lodge, and checking weather reports for the warmer weather that will soon bring the trout into the Ganaraska River.

"Eastern Rises" takes place in true frontier land, one of the hardest places to get to in the world, and the rewards are fantastic.

And the two main protagonists in the film (Alaskan fishermen whose names I sadly do not even know due to the shameful shortage of info out there – even on the film’s ‘under construction’ website) are so perfect for the film. One is young, but a born fisherman with deep thoughts on his choice of career and a slow, well-thought-out way of explaining those ruminations that is thought provoking and easy to listen to.

On his response when a client asked him how his parents felt about him ‘wasting his life’ as a fishing guide: “Well…I think they’re jealous, like everyone else.”

The other main fisherman in the film, whose name I also do not know, is a little more verbose, a little louder, the joker of the group, but nonetheless also a brilliant fisherman with fascinating ideas about angling, life, and that Russian bigfoot he’s obsessed with.

But accompanying these characters are fish, millions and millions of fish. Rainbow Trout boil out of the water one after another, exploding onto huge flies tied to look like mice, the prime food source for these carnivorous fish.

It’s incredible. And the camera captures these moments with superb clarity and an artistic approach that makes every fish seem like a primary character in the film.

In the end, this is really just a beautiful, well shot, funny and irreverent film about a group of guys that go on an epic adventure. In that way, it’s like every other adventure movie.

One of the characters, when describing his chosen career path, kind of sums it up I think:

'In the end, fishing is a pretty selfish pursuit. You’re not really doing anything to make the world a better place or to improve the plight of humanity -- except maybe somehow by enriching your own soul.' (paraphrased…)

This film, like fishing, may not make the world a better place. But it will enrich your soul and make you happy, and in that way, perhaps, it is making the world better. Don’t you think?

Eastern Rises | teaser from felt soul media on Vimeo.

This film also has a fantastic soundtrack. Thanks to CompleatThought for putting together a reference list here.


Here are a couple of other films that I really enjoyed at the festival...


“Tibet: Murder in the Snow” (Mark Gould)

There were a few other pretty amazing films that also deserve a mention. “Tibet: Murder in the Snow” was a fantastic film about a tragedy a few years back when Chinese police at the Nangpa Pass on the border of Nepal fired on a group of young Tibetan refugees, killing a teenage nun.

The event was witnessed by numerous Western climbers at a nearby base camp awaiting their summit opening, many of them recording or photographing the incident. The Australian filmmakers painstakingly tracked down these eyewitnesses all over the world, including other survivors who were in the group, and reconstructed the heartbreaking true story.

“As it Happens” (Renan Ozturk and Corey Richards)
Two mountaineers, filmmakers and all-round great storytellers, set out to climb the 6,000-metre Tawoche Himal in Nepal. That would be a feat on its own, but they also documented their adventure moment-by-moment.

And rather than compile a whole bunch of images and footage, bring it all back home and make a film after the fact, they did it guerrilla style. Using a solar-powered modem, and mobile editing equipment, they edited, voiced and posted short dispatches along the way, rogue blogger style, and were followed online by 100,000 people as they did it.

This film compiles those dispatches into a very real and dynamic film that makes you feel like you’re right there with them. Though you’d probably rather not be. 36 hours without water, clinging to a Himalayan mountainside, while trying to make a film, not to mention survive, isn’t for everyone.

'Casablanca' (1942, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman)

For us, Valentine's Day ended perfectly, watching "Casablanca" at the Bloor Cinema before getting late-night Vietnamese at Mimi in Chinatown east.

As everyone knows I love the Bloor. And especially, I love watching old films that seem to fit the vintage vibe that exists in every detail of that cinema.

This was no exception. We sat in the balcony and cozied-up to take in one of the greatest movies of all time. My PMC (to borrow an acronym coined by film critic Richard Crouse that stands for 'preferred movie companion') had never seen it, which made the night all the more perfect.

I first watched "Casablanca," believe it or not, in the actual city of Casablanca, Morocco, so somehow this movie has extra nostalgic value for me, and I was desperately hoping she would like it. She did.

Although I don't think it's the classic love story that it has been made out to be, it's still a fantastic tale of love and heroism and doing the right thing...sort of.

The movie, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, is set in the Moroccan port city in the early days of the Second World War, as the 3rd Reich is establishing its grip on much of Europe, including Paris.

The Nazis' advance has forces many to flee to Portugal, in hopes of catching a ship or plane to America. Many of those who couldn't get to Lisbon, however, crossed the Mediterranean and instead travelled across North Africa to French-occupied Morocco, and Casa, the main port city.

That's where we find Bogart's character Rick, proprietor of Rick's Cafe Americain in the medina, or original, walled portion of the city.

Though the entire film was shot in Hollywood in 1942, director Michael Curtiz actually did a pretty good job of re-creating that medina -- it surprisingly looks believable.

Rick, not surprisingly, is tough, gruff and jaded, has a questionable past and looks out only for himself. But all of that masks a heart of gold that every once in a while, makes an appearance. Classic Bogart material, of course.

He has established a pretty decent existence -- we're vaguely told he can't return to America but the reason isn't spelled out -- though the political situation in the city is complicated and tense. The Germans have control of continental France, but not the colonies. They have a presence in Casa, however, as well as political sway, and there's a palpable sense of fear among the expats desperately trying to leave.

But Rick's life and that of his staff, including his piano-player Sam, is relatively simple until Ilsa Lund comes into the picture with her famous Czech husband Victor Laszlou -- a hero for his work in the underground resistance against the Nazis.

Laszlou spent years in a concentration camp for publishing an underground newspaper that discredited the Nazis, but managed to escape and rejoin his wife and the resistance, fleeing from safe-house to safe-house across Europe before finally reaching Morocco.

Rick and Ilsa were lovers in Paris, while Laszlou was imprisoned and believed dead, and the relationship ended without closure for either of them, as the Nazis marched into the city.

"I remember every detail. The Nazis wore grey, you wore blue," Rick laments bitterly when they arrive at his bar.

"Of all the gin joints in all the world, she had to walk into mine," complains a heartbroken Rick, drinking in his own bar after hours. It's one of the many lines in this film that have become part of pop culture. "This is the start of a beautiful friendship," is another, and so is "Here's looking at you, kid."

Interestingly, as my friend Logan pointed out, "Play it again Sam" is a line that has become attached to the film, even though it is never actually spoken in the movie. Weird.

It's also interesting that "Casablanca" has been labelled as a classic love story. It's really not, in my opinion. Laszlou and Lund are desperate to flee Casa, and Rick is the only one who can help, but he's too broken-hearted to do so.

Finally, Lund confesses that her love for Rick has never died, and she agrees to leave her husband and stay in Morocco if only he will help Laszlou escape, vowing she will never leave Rick again and saying lamely "You have to do the thinking for both of us now."

Yikes!

Of course, this isn't the way the story ends. I won't give it away, but while it isn't a tragic conclusion, it certainly isn't a neatly tied-up happy ending either. But it ends in a way that gives this almost mythical love story some creedence as a believable, honest tale about the way people behave when love comes with difficult obstacles.

The film is beautifully cast. Bogart, of course, is brilliant. Bergman is beautiful and refined. Paul Henreid is perfect as Laszlou -- the quiet hero willing to do the right thing at all costs. Claude Rains -- usually cast as a villain, is brilliant as the unscrupulous French police captain, always on the side that will provide the most benefit for him -- but somehow likable at the same time.

Yes, you should see this movie. If you don't, "you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But soon, and for the rest of your life."
Another classic line from "Casablanca."