North Face (film)


North Face is a 2008 German historical fiction film directed by Philipp Stölzl and starring Benno Fürmann, Florian Lukas, Johanna Wokalek, and Ulrich Tukur. Based on the famous 1936 attempt to climb the Eiger north face, the film is about two German climbers involved in a competition to climb the most dangerous rock face in the Alps.

Plot

The movie portrays an attempt in 1936 to summit the Eiger via the north face, the last major unclimbed Alpine face, by two competing teams. The more prominently featured pair are German climbers Toni Kurz and Andi Hinterstoisser. The ascent is covered by the fictional novice journalist Louise and her cynical editor from a Berlin newspaper.
Toni, Andi and Louise are childhood friends from Berchtesgaden in Bavaria. The boys have joined the German army and are successful amateur climbers and, hearing other teams are making an attempt on the Eiger north face, decide to compete to make the ascent. After being refused leave from the German army, they quit their service in order to make the attempt. They are portrayed as being more interested in mountaineering than politics. The competing team of Austrians are portrayed as hoping for a Nazi-led incorporation of Austria into Germany.
Louise's superiors see a media opportunity and send her editor along with her as a photographer to cover the ascent by the German pair. Having no money, Kurz and Hinterstoisser travel to the Bernese Alps on bicycles and share a tent, while the reporting pair lodge in the luxurious hotel at Kleine Scheidegg. Competing French and Italian climbers assess the conditions and decide to abort their attempt, leaving the German and Austrian teams. Once both pairs start their climb, the observers below watch as the climbers risk their lives in a series of catastrophic incidents. The teams are forced to join together to survive and descent to safety.
The story of the climb follows the historical narrative of the actual 1936 Eiger North Face climbing disaster. A rescue team reaches within metres to save the last climber alive but a knot tying two short ropes together cannot pass through his carabiner and Kurz dies within earshot of Louise. Distraught at losing her best friends, particularly Toni, to whom she is romantically attached, and repelled by the editor's cynicism, Lousie resigns her job and the film ends with her working as a professional photographer in postwar New York.

Cast

;Filming locations
;Critical response
After a successful theatrical run in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, the film was released in several non-German speaking countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan from 2009-2010, receiving favorable reviews throughout.
;Awards and nominations