An exploration of the inner landscape of the mountaineer as etched onto the physical landscape of Gasherbrum II and Gasherbrum I. Herzog's mixing of interview and shots of epic landscapes captures the imagination as we are led to see these two death defiers as infatuated with the possibility of what might be out/up there and thus within them. Messner breaking down on screen when questioned about his mothers' response to his brothers' death is a picture of a man deeply sad but full of love.

Of all the people Herzog has filmed, Reinhold Messner seems the most like Herzog. They're both adventurers constantly on the move, seldom stopping to ask the "why"s. They don't seem to fear death and they don't hesitate to put themselves in tremendous danger for the sake of being true to their desires. I enjoyed this a lot. The scenery is beautiful, Messner is quite an interesting subject, and it has the most hilariously energetic full body massage ever filmed.

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.

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.

Tries to emotionally destroy you at the base of the mountain so the climb can lift you back up.

"I don't think so, because he's the one saying the CIA tactics remind him of Nazi Germany." http://illusionpodcast.blogspot.com/2015/10/episode-76-nonfiction-from-werner.html

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

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.

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.