I love mountains and have a real weakness for mountaineering documentaries. What distinguishes TOUCHING THE VOID from American-produced documentaries about Nepalese or American mountaineers is its attention to detail and its emotional rawness. This isn’t about what Margaret Grebowicz in her excellent cultural critique of mountaineering culture refers to as “[t]he image of climbing-as-success” naturalising capitalism’s “relentless drive for more”: this is about two men who admit to personal flaws, get annoyed with themselves, admit to irritations with each other even when it deflates the image of the ruggedly determined young (white male) mountaineer. It makes for a more human story than even FREE SOLO.