by Joseph Davis, Contributing Writer
If I were to ask you who the first person to summit Mount Everest was, you quite possibly would answer Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzig Norgay. However, what if I told you there was a chance that he may actually not be the first to reach the summit, but only the first to do so and survive? In 1924, two men by the names of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine made an attempt on the summit, and disappeared into the world of legend. While many people have sought the answer to this question, the only way that it will probably ever be answered, if it is answered, is if we were to find the camera they carried with them. This is what brings me to this month’s installment of Out of Market with the 2021 animated French film The Summit of the Gods. Based on the Japanese manga of the same name, this story focuses on fictional journalist Makoto Fukamachi as he attempts to find climber Habu Joji, who may have the answer to the question of who climbed Everest first, and to questions he didn’t know he needed the answers to.
Probably the part of the movie that just clicks with me the most is how the story itself progresses. While the question of Mallory and Irvine are the driving force behind the movie, or the “MacGuffin,” the pure inspiration and goal of the movie is less to answer the question that Mallory’s camera can answer; instead, it dives into why Mallory, or Irvine, or Habu Joji would risk their lives to climb the tallest and most dangerous mountains in the world. In his search, Makoto and the narrative spend time diving into the climbing history of Habu, from his early days in a climbing club, to an attempt on the tallest mountains in the Alps, and finally an attempt on Everest itself. This movie does a downright phenomenal job at capturing the mindset and the dangers, of mountain climbing, the exhilaration of success, and the high cost of even a single mistake. It does not sugar coat these moments at all, and while it’s nothing graphic, it makes it very clear when Habu or Makoto are faced with these situations. However, in this process the movie does a fantastic job in showing just what draws in those crazy few who decide to climb the world’s tallest mountains.
Another aspect I like about this movie is the animation style. For any animated movie, I feel like this can easily make it or break it, and for The Summit of the Gods, it makes the movie for me. It makes it feel more authentic in many ways, and when needed it amplifies the gravity of certain situations. It feels like even if the filmmakers had made subtle changes to the animation, it would have made a lesser movie in the end. While this same story was made into a live action movie, I also feel like making it live action would be doing a disservice in a way, where scenes that show life-or-death situations, and the effects that climbing to the tallest points in the world has on the body. A live action movie could not and would not be able to really reach the gravity of these moments.
When he was asked in 1923 why he wanted to summit Everest, George Mallory replied, “Because it’s there.” This thrill of adventure and of going into the unknown is why men like Mallory and Irvine tried to summit the world’s tallest mountain, and why Hillary and Norgay decided to reach the summit. This is the narrative that The Summit of the Gods attempts to tell, and in my opinion it vastly succeeds. It captures the passion of mountain climbing, the why’s behind why people risk life and limb to push their bodies and minds beyond the limit, and the beauty behind it. It also does a good job at diving into the spirituality of the climb, the respect to the mountains needed to be able to summit them, and in many ways to the will of things outside of our own control. After viewing this movie, I have a newfound respect for Everest, the men and women who have sought to conquer these peaks, and feel that this is perfect viewing for people who might just find it insane to climb these peaks so they may understand why people climb, and for those thinking of making an attempt to show the respect to the profession and to the mountains that someone needs to reach the summit.
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