Broad Peak (2022) User Reviews

Thoroughly entertaining extreme sports movie from Poland

[paul-allaer · 7/10 · 17 September 2022]

As "Broad Peak" (2022 release from Poland; 102 min.) opens, we are in "Karakoram, March 1988" as we see a mountain climber digging a shelter in the side of a mountain, desperately clinging on to life. We then go to "A Week Earlier" as Polish expedition is faltering on K2, and Majiej Berbeka and one other climber decide to abandon that climb and instead try to ascend the nearby Broad Peak on a whim, without support, and in -40C weather conditions. What could go wrong? At this point we are 10 min into the movie.

Couple of comments: this movie is a Polish production, and the entire cast was unfamiliar to me. Not had I ever heard of Maciej Berbeka, whose real life exploits are the basis of the move. Let me just outright say it: I was surprised, in the best possible way, with this production, which is top notch from start to finish. The climbing scenes are terrific, and terrifying. From the looks of it, a good part of the film was staged in the actual Karakoram mountain range in Pakistan. The footage of that is simply spectacular. The fact that there are some significant plot twists along the way doesn't hurt either...

"Broad Peak" premiered on Netflix a few days ago. I had read a heads up about this film somewhere on line, and was immediately intrigued. So glad I checked it out. If you are in the mood for a thoroughly entertaining (and more) extreme sports movie, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Crazy or heroic?

[dierregi · 5/10 · 3 February 2023]

I find movies about climbers strangely fascinating, since I don't have a clue about what pushes them to do crazy stuff that very often ends with death by hypothermia.

Based on real events, the main character of this story is Maciej Berbeka, a Polish climber who attempted to reach Broad Peak in 1988, almost dying in the proceedings, only to be told that he stopped some 20 metres from the peak. To be noted, he stopped because he was exhausted and lost in a blizzard in terrible weather conditions.

On the way down he almost died and he talked about his near death experience as awful, since he spent almost 24 hours in a hole in the snow at -40° at over 8000 mt. A reasonable person would probably not be willing to repeat such an experience, but 25 years later Maciej is contacted by the guy who organized the first expedition and asked to go again, with three much younger guys.

After a short hesitation Maciej decides to go, stating that he needs "to finish what he started". It looked pretty much finished 25 years earlier to me, but the inevitable ensues, with a much older Maciej attempting another winter expedition with the younger guys just to prove... what exactly?

The story is told in a rather boring way, with sparse dialogue and little to no insight into any characters minds. Makes you feel cold and despairing about human nature. Still, some interesting photography.

as most Polish movies

[majaguara · 4/10 · 15 September 2022]

No matter the subject - most Polish movies are like that - long silent scenes. Marriage scene - long silent scenes. Thriller to be, showing survival - long silent scenes.

Althought the story is quite simple, is is all messed up and made complicated (it usually is in Polish movies).

Poorly chosen music. Even when orchestral, which is surprising... Years are passing, new creators are coming and Polish movies remain the same.

They are simply boring and hard to watch.

On top of that (but this is a problem only for Polish watchers), again, like in every Polish movie, you can't hear or understand what they are saying. So I turn the volume up and up and up and then music scenes make my walls shake. Each and every time the same.

No storyline, No characters, no suspense

[dzoga · 1/10 · 25 September 2022]

Wonder how can such an acclaimed director blow off such a fantastic story. We get attechet to absolutely no characters in the films. The story just passes by quickly, with no emotions nor suspense. Dialogues are rare, fragmented and have no relevance to the story. There are neither any questions nor answers in this film. Even the clibmbing scene es have no sense. We don know who is Berbeka, why he is climbing and what is it all about. His wife is completely in a shadow with no meaningful dialogues between them. There was such a great opportunity in this movie. Unfortunately we cannot experience it. I am soooo disappointed.

Very truthful and thoughful film about winter Himalayan/Karakoram climbing

[pereubu2000 · 8/10 · 22 September 2022]

Extremely well-made film, with very good CGI depicting the Baltoro area of the Karakoram in winter. Climbing movies - good ones anyway - are notoriously difficult to make as the real climbing itself is, in the case of alpine climbing in the Karakoram and Himalaya, slow, and hence the pace of the film as well. One climber described Himalayan climbing as long stretches of tedium punctuated by moments of sheer terror. And climbers - high mountain alpinists - are notoriously taciturn. The director does an excellent job of showing the inner life of these tough, but very human men, while not feeling the need to create meaningless dialogue. Silence does work in the case of this film. Very well photographed, and the Polish cast is uniformly excellent, while the principals also bear a striking resemblance to the real climbers - Bielecki, Berbeka, Wielecki, and others, the famous Polish Ice Warriors of the 70s, 80s, 90, and into the 21st century (read Bernadette McDonald's "The Art of Freedom" on Woyteck Kurtyka, on of the famous Poles).

The final climb seemed a bit truncated - I was expecting more, so I would say that the film was about 15 minutes too short. Other than that, this is well worth watching, and I don't really understand the negative reviews. The climbing sequences are true to form (I am a climber myself, and have been to the Himalaya), the gear, everything, and it is not over sensationalistic. Ranks right up there with another great climbing film, "Nordwand," a German film about the 1936 attempt on the Eiger North wall.

Extremely disappointing

[hcthv · 2/10 · 9 February 2024]

Very little coverage of an actual Broad Peak expedition - the main reason ( in my opinion) most people actually watch movies about high mountaineering. Film focuses only on one member of an expedition, three other climbers hardly mentioned, like they didn't even matter at all. That's very disappointing and disrespectful.

No interesting characters and storyline. Very unnecessary sex scene that didn't bring anything to the table.

Film doesn't explain at all, what actually occurred on the mountain, what lead to the tragedy and what was the aftermath.

Beautiful shots of the mountains is the only thing in favor for the movie.

Stunning Mountain Climbing Film

[stuarttomanek · 9/10 · 22 September 2022]

The breathtaking mountain climbing shots - especially when they pan out and show you where the climbers are in relation to the size of the mountain - is terrifying - how they get up these sheer ice faces is just amazing. I found most of the film very gripping and my only issue is that the time lag between the first attempt to climb Broad Peak and the second attempt is supposed to be 25 years later. This length of time seems more like a few years as all you see the main character doing is some joinery and giving some school talks etc. Plus he and his wife look no different 25 years later. I had to go and check that it really was 25 years later. Just a quibble though.

What a story

[shilpa_suchak · 9/10 · 29 September 2022]

Such an inspiring film of courage and perseverance. It's well shot and heartbreaking to know the story but well worth it. Humans ! Well made and a story worth telling. He lost everything the first time and for 17 mts had to go back and lost his life. I am speechless! Only curious as to how did the team know he didn't make it to the top when they weren't there and that it was exact 17 mts. Would love to understand that. What a team tough. The movie captures it subtly but well. The mountains are exceptionally beautiful and who wouldn't feel the desire to go ! I wish I could. Film is very well shot.