It is a pity that the version of this which has recently become available on DVD is dubbed into English, rather than the original German version that must exist somewhere.

I'm just gonna ignore the terrible dub job, cause it's what Herzog would want us to do.

Reminiscent of Herzog's earlier "The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner". Pretty straight-forward narrative with some good camerawork and great sounds from Popul Vuh.

A documentary filmed under death-defying conditions, men braving the forces of nature, yada yada - a pedestrian little film for Werner Herzog, an impressive feat considered generally.

Even overlooking the bland narration (not by Herzog) and dubbing, there's just not much meat here. There are a few of those magic Herzog moments. But too much of is talking heads, and even then I don't feel like I'm getting a particularly insightful look inside the mind of a climber. Messner's remarks are typically exactly what you'd expect them to be. His feats may be impressive, but as far as being a fascinating personality, he's no Timothy Treadwell. Not a bad film, just rather blah.