TOUCH THE TOP OF THE WORLD

Canada, 2006, 90 minutes, Colour.
Peter Faccinelli, Sarah Manninen, Bruce Campbell.
Directed by Peter Winther.

Touch the Top of the World is the name of the autobiography by Eric Weihenmayer. Eric Weihenmayer was the first blind man to climb Everest.

The film focuses on the climb, the support that he had from his team, the difficulties with the climb, the weather and his experience of being blind. However, the climb was a great achievement.

Inserted into this framework is the standard biography of Eric. It focuses on him at the age of three, then at the age of twelve, with the gradual deterioration of his sight. The film focuses also on his parents, the support of his father, the initial denial of his mother. The film shows a strong character, determined to transcend his limitations of sight. The film is interesting in its explanations of how blind people can have a stronger sense of hearing and feel in order to locate themselves and to identify what is going on around them.

While the film is standard material, conventionally presented, it is a true story of an outstanding achievement.

In 2007, Eric Weihenmayer himself appeared in a documentary, Blind-Sighted?. A group in Tibet contacted him and asked him to accompany a group of blind children on a climb in the Himalayas. The film is actually more powerful than the autobiography of Eric Weihenmayer and shows the man himself, his support team, detailed presentation of the children who went on the climb, their German carers. It is quite a tribute to him.

1.An interesting and inspiring biography?

2.The production values, the mountainscapes, the home settings? The atmosphere? Musical score?

3.The title, the focus on Everest? Climbers on Everest since the 1950s? Achievement? A blind man with a team climbing Everest? The title?

4.The framework of the climb, Eric as a personality, with the other members of the team, contact with his wife? The background of his climbing mountains on the other continents of the world? His experience? The difficulties, the feelings of the support team, whether to go on or not? The final achievement? The personalities in the support team?

5.The insertion of the biography: Eric at age three, at age twelve? His experience of sight, losing his sight? The effects on him? The support of his father? The effect on his mother? The authorities, the teachers? His persevering with studies? His compensating for his lack of sight with his sense of hearing and sense of location?

6.Eric as a teacher, his first day in class, the preparations for placements, the consequences? Meeting the other teacher? Their becoming friends, climbing together, sense of friendship, achievement? His friend not going on the Everest climb?

7.Ellie, her work in the school, Eric’s attraction, going out, their times together, falling in love? The shared climbing, the shared experiences? The marriage, children? A happy marriage?

8.The inspirational nature of the film? The strength of the film as a true story?