SHERPA : Monday 11th April 2016.

'SHERPA'- unlike last years 'Everest' movie starring an impressive cast of A-listers facing closing storms and tragedy on the mountain top, this documentary film tells a very different story of that same mountain and the same era i.e. our very recent past, but from the other side of the mountaineering fence. Directed by Australian Jennifer Peedom who intended to make a film in the wake of the 2013 violent confrontations that took place between Sherpa's and adventure seeking tourists - the aptly named 'Everest Brawl' that was beamed around the world's TV channels and made international headlines. Looking to follow the 2014 season from the Sherpa's perspective and how their 'employment rights' are suffering at the hands of wealthy thrill seekers, Peedom and her crew were unexpectedly confronted with tragedy when a massive avalanche at Khumbu Icefall took the lives of sixteen Sherpa's, changing the multi-million Mount Everest Climbing industry forever. Released at TIFF in September 2015, the film picked up three awards and nine other nominations, including a win for Jennifer Peedom for Best Documentary at the British Film Institute London Film Festival.

This film centres around Phurba Tashi, a Sherpa who over the last twenty years has made 21 summits of Everest - and is seeking in 2014 to make a record breaking 22nd, despite the inherent dangers associated with scaling this unpredictable mountain, and the wishes of his wife and children living in the mountain village of Khumjung. Exploring the culture and history of the mountain climbing Sherpa's together with their spiritual connection with Everest we also see archival footage of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay to give some context of how the Sherpa's have been disadvantaged since that first ascent of the peak in 1953. As the pack horse of the mountain, all supplies upto Base Camp and Camp's 1, 2, 3 and 4 must be manually lifted and carried, and it is the Sherpa's who do this, as the government have forbidden helicopter flights to drop off supplies up the mountain. Needless to say they do this for the money and their livelihood largely depends on it, because they are strong, lithe and able to withstand the altitude. Needless to say the thrill seeking bucket list adventurers who look to climb Everest are wholly dependant on the Sherpa's, as are the expedition companies who bring those individuals to climb in ever increasing numbers and for huge sums of money.

The commercialisation of Everest is writ large here as we witness 'traffic jams' up the snowy mountain side as literally hundreds of climbers at a time wait to inch ever closer to the summit. Then there are the creature comforts of Base Camp to accommodate the tourists who may have parted company with up to US$75K for the privilege of making the ascent, and then there is a major Hollywood motion picture being filmed, and then there are guys who want to summit and jump off Everest wearing a wing suit. All of these groups and individuals have to be accommodated, and more often than not it is the Sherpa's who do the heavy lifting, fetching and carrying over dangerous terrain, putting their own lives at risk, and for very little reward or recognition in the grand scheme of things. They are in many respects taken for granted.

Working with New Zealander Russell Brice, a seasoned Everest expedition company owner since 1994, Phurba Tashi is the expedition team leader.  In 2013 things comes to  head up at Base Camp when a US tourist turns on a Sherpa and calls him something less than complimentary, at which point a brawl breaks out, and the otherwise spiritual, docile, peaceful Sherpa's turn on the tourists and tempers, fists and rocks fly.

In 2014 with the season about to start and the 'Everest Brawl' now behind them although not forgotten, tragedy strikes on the Khumbu Icefall - when a 14,000 ton slab of ice breaks off and creates an avalanche down the mountain side killing sixteen Sherpa's. Never before has a tragedy of this magnitude been seen, and whilst Brice, Tashi and his team went unscathed the loss has a significant impact on all. In the days that follow, the Sherpa's gather threatening to close down climbing for the remainder of the year out of respect for the dead and for the mountain, and for wanting better working conditions and reward for the risks they take every day during the climbing season.

Brice as the seasoned respected elder statesman of the mountain acts as middleman and lobbies the government for change trying to bring about a compromise that will get the Sherpa's to see out the season. We see the differences of opinion unfold and the varying perspectives of the mountain side stakeholders - the Sherpa's, the expedition companies, the tourists all have different motivations in the days after the tragedy, and all of which are understandable and valid. In the end the Sherpa's stand firm and the season is closed down. Tashi never makes his 22nd summit and instead retires and returns home to his family having helped pack up Base Camp. A year later in April 2015, another tragedy strikes when the Nepalese earthquake kills 7,000 and creates another avalanche on Everest killing ten more Sherpa's - that climbing season is also cancelled.

Despite this tragedy that unfolded all around them that changed the direction of the originally intended film completely, Peedom has crafted a grounded responsive unbiased documentary that has a respect for the often taken for granted Sherpa community, the beautiful yet hostile environment, and the dangers and the realities of the world highest peak all paired together with breathtaking cinematography courtesy of Renan Ozturk and Hugh Miller. Educational, poignant, breathtaking, relevant and considered - see it on the big screen.

-Stev, at Odeon Online-