"Am Limit" or "To the Limit" is a German sports documentary film from 2007, so this one has its 10th anniversary this year. The writer and director is Oscar winner Pepe Danquart and he has been pretty prolific in sports documentaries since pretty early in his career. However, this one here about speed climbing may be my least favorite by him most certainly, but not really because of the production values, but rather because of the subject. I am not much of a fan of the higher, faster etc. mentality and the Huber Brothers in the center of it all really embody this idea. Yet at the same time, they are really as bland as it gets unfortunately. Also speed climbing is definitely a sport that is not fun to watch and there's a reason why you hardly read anything about it in the media in contrast to football, tennis, cycling or the US sports for example. Maybe they realized halfway into this 95-minute documentary that it is a very unappealing watch and that's why they all of a sudden and completely out of nowhere included a rivalry plot twist that was on soap opera level. Not that the rest of it was any better, but it sucked for different reasons, mostly because of how generic, forgettable and by the books it was. If you have seen one climbing documentary, then you have seen them all in my opinion. It's pretentious talk about personal goals, about making it for oneself and not to become famous etc. You get the idea. Besides, I disapprove humans entering territory here that clearly isn't meant for them and have a negative impact on the local wilderness like the fleeing deer scene. So who should watch this. The answer is: Nobody. The reason is it will not get you interested in the subject and if you are already interested, then you will most likely want to climb a bit yourself instead of watch other people do so. We have reached the top (Everest), now lets see if we can get higher any faster. Who cares if we risk our lives. No thank you. One additional star for the beautiful landscapes and daring camera work. That's all. Highly not recommended.

Here's a film about couple of world-class athletes from Bavaria who never give up. What's rather cool is that they don't ever triumph in the film, and that the footage on their attempts is all the more hair-raising and expressive of the challenges they face for that. In addition camera placement, whose details are never revealed, shows a level of daring comparable to the climbers' physical feats. Its invisibility is a measure of its accomplishment. A DVD with "making of" details about how the film was shot as well as more mundane information about the logistics of the climbs and the shoot would be particularly welcome here. What we do get is a lot of rumination and some of the most astonishing footage of rock climbing at the highest level you're ever likely to see.Thomas and younger brother Alexander Huber are speed rock climbers and this film documents two attempts to set a record on "The Nose" of El Capitan in Yosemite, with an attempt to cross a stormy but beautiful pass in Patagonia in between. Accidents abort the "Nose" record attempts. The Patagonian pass can't be crossed, not surprisingly, because of the weather.El Capitan is the gold standard of rock climbing, and "The Nose" is its 1,000-foot central sheer upright front, which at first seemed to climbers to be simply impossible. The first who succeeded in the attempt to scale it took 47 days in 1958. With modern methods and training it now normally takes those who succeed 2-3 days but the speed record is something under three hours. That gives you an idea of what kind of performance this is--the gap between "good" and "excellent" in this field. These climbers are in another world, moving at a speed so scary and at a level of adrenalin so high once they're on their way with a good start on a good day that they move beyond fear. Not so in the days and hours beforehand though, of course. And the El Capitan record attempts each begins with lots of dummy runs, some of which take many hours longer than the record.Somewhat oddly, since Alexander and Thomas do plenty of talking to the camera, the film conveys little about their personal contexts beyond mounting climbing. Obviously this is disproportionately central to their world. But they do live in the real world, somewhere (actually quite near to each other). Clearly they're German-speaking (and that's about all we hear them speak), and they have a mother who cooks in a restaurant-quality kitchen--and objects to Thomas' continuing to risk his life though he's married with two children.There's also a handful of American climbers and ex-climbers who talk to the camera about the sport and the Hubers. They provide interesting and sympathetic outlooks and a welcome relief from the obsessive intensity of the brothers. Obviously the Hubers have, when they're at work on the rock, a symbiotic level of coordination that is a key element in their ultimate success. But such bonding isn't without its element of psychodrama. Taking a break with other people helps make the film more relaxing to watch. The only serious misstep is the film's attempt to show a nightmare of falling one of the brothers has, with fudged blurry footage. It's unnecessary and doesn't quite work. Beyond that, one could only have wished for a little more personal context, perhaps from their mother.You have to look somewhere else to find out a little about what else these guys do besides climb rocks. Alexander has a degree in physics but works as a mountain and ski guide and Thomas is also a mountain guide and plays in a band. This they themselves never mention. Rock climbing is their obsession, their greatest challenge. But among their many ruminations are the points that they need to gain satisfaction from working alone too--Thomas especially, since as a climber he is overshadowed by Alexander--and that bravery in this one activity doesn't guarantee equal courage in the everyday challenges of life.It's a troubling paradox that Alexander was taught to climb by Thomas, but has outstripped him as an athlete. He is also more meticulous (as may befit a physicist), more the planner. Thomas is more emotional, more of a dreamer, more impulsive, and has this baggage, of being bettered by his junior, less celebrated in the press--and needing to chalk up some solid climbing accomplishments solo--which apparently he has done. The psychological complexity of the brothers' cooperation and competition is well depicted, even if their ultimate motivations--and how it feels to be them in the rest of their lives--are left unexplored. When the brothers fail in their two "Nose" record attempts in this film, it's because of a pretty serious mishap each time. The footage can't show the full details, but it does convey through its coverage of these moments how close to death the Hubers are working. It also shows how demoralizing failure is when you're so close to spectacular accomplishment. But as they say to each other after the second aborted try, "Now more than ever." And, though the film doesn't show it, they did set the record. It's just not a part of Danquart's footage. This is only one of a series of lacunae, but we can't entirely fault the director for that: maybe this way we get closer to what it is to be at the top. You have to keep trying. It's isn't easy, even if you're the best, and peak performances skirt the edge of failure, nearly always. Darquart has caught the austerity of life at the top of the rock climbing world.

With a few hours to spare, and a selection of unfamiliar movie titles from which to choose, I settled upon an early afternoon screening of 'To the Limit (2007),' Pepe Danquart's impressive documentary on the art of rock-climbing. A co-production from Austria and Germany, the film follows the exploits of brothers Thomas and Alexander Huber as they attempt to break the speed record for The Nose, a landmark climb on El Capitan, Yosemite NP. Intimate and engaging, the film practically swings alongside the climbers as they ascend the sun-drenched granite monolith, the ground an absurdly-distant tree-dotted stretch in the background. This footage is certainly not for acrophobics, and I held my breath on more than a few occasions, certain that, as soon as those thread-like supporting ropes snapped, both climbers were going to plummet to their deaths. But what these climbers lack in common sense they gain in courage, and they wouldn't have it any other way. There's something to be admired in that.'To the Limit' follows Thomas and Alexander on three rock-climbing expeditions: two attempts at Yosemite, and a third in the frozen wastes of Patagonia, Chile. That each of these ends unsuccessfully is basically irrelevant, and, indeed, it is something of a misnomer to refer to their expeditions as "unsuccessful," since it's ultimately the experience and the adventure that counts. However, I was happy to discover that, in October 2007, the brothers did return to Yosemite, and the speed record is now very much theirs. In the process of risking their lives, the rock-climbers overlook some of the most breathtaking landscapes I've seen, unspoilt wilderness stretching in all directions, its wilderness dwarfed only by its incredible perils. While the brothers deserve full credit for their ambitious climbing efforts, I am astounded at how well their exploits are captured by the filmmakers, the camera, itself dangling hazardously over hundreds of metres of air, capturing the action from all angles.Of course, there are a few moments when the film strays slightly from the desired path. The dream, in which one of the men imagines himself tumbling from the cliff-face, tries too hard to be dramatic, though I acknowledge that most climbers would, indeed, suffer from such nightmares. Also, Danguart inserts a few too many "intense slow-motion" sequences, which breaks away from the reality of the climbing and tends to cheapen it for the sake of a few music-charged thrills. Despite these complaints, I very much enjoyed 'To the Limit,' particularly as one who has never been all that interested in rock-climbing. Comparisons will certainly be made with Kevin MacDonald's excellent 'Touching the Void (2003),' though they really are quite different films: whereas one uses re-enactments to depict a true story of incredible survival, the other is a very real look at the "ordinary" lifestyle of professional thrill-seeking sportsmen. The two documentaries would make a excellent double-bill, I think.

Just so you know, I do not speak German or climb mountains (or anything else) however, Am Limit is accessible and dramatic enough to overcome my limitations. The scenery is brutal and gorgeous, and the action is gripping. Unlike "Touching the Void", there seems to be a strong bond of trust between the climbers and the crew, allowing us to see some spectacularly death defying footage in intimate close-up. The camera also manages to capture the spirit of place - the aloof ice princesses that are the Torres Del Paine, in the Patagonian wilderness; and the gentler charm of the Yosemite valley in late summer. There are very clear shots of the climbing routes (I had not understood why that feature of El Capitan was called "the Nose" until I was staring up its right nostril!). This is not just beautiful mountains, high adrenaline and ripped abs (although there are no shortage of these). The relationship between two fiercely independent and competitive brothers, sometimes striving for mutual goals, sometimes conflicted, always connected fraternally, but not always happily, make an absorbing psychological story within a story of the obsessive climbing fraternity. The "minor" characters Dean S. Potter, Chongo, and several who are given sobriquets like "old school American climbers" or no name at all (I recognized the one they called 'Andy' was Andy Perkins) provide some amazing footage, and are complex and interesting people as well, but the film (wisely, I think) keeps its focus tightly on the Huber brothers and their attempt to break the speed climbing record for the Nose.