Torn

The death and legacy of the mountaineer Alex Lowe is explored by the documentarian Max Lowe, his son.

The title gives nothing away – and that is as it should be. To experience the full impact of Torn the viewer should approach it with limited knowledge of the themes that will eventually emerge as the film progresses. In contrast to that, it is useful to know beforehand what this film is not. On paper it sounds like a typical example of a well-established genre, the mountaineering documentary that is built around the risks taken by a climber and is in some cases a tribute to someone whose career has been tragically cut short. In recent times two films of that kind stood out: 2018’s Free Solo and 2020’s The Alpinist. Both were very well-made, featured stunning shots of climbing and seemed to be aimed at the very same target audience. Torn, however, despite echoing them in certain respects, is crucially different.

It is certainly the case that the major event around which Torn revolves is the death of the American climber Alex Lowe. It occurred on 5th October 1999 when he was caught in an avalanche on Mount Shishapangma in the Tibetan Himalayas. But, even though the first half of the film follows the conventional course of looking back on his life and achievements, it also takes on a character of its own. It does this through the amount of emphasis that it puts on his wife Jenni and on their three sons Sam, Isaac and Max, the latter being the oldest one and the director of this film.

What follows puts the focus on the extent to which twenty years later all of the family members in their different ways are still in the process of coming to terms with the death of Alex. Thus, in the case of the children, we have Sam and Isaac growing up without any clear memories of their father because they were so young when he died whereas Max, ten in 1999, feels the impact of the father he remembers, a man recognised as a superhero and therefore a daunting figure when it comes to trying to live up to him. We meet also a close friend of Alex Lowe, Conrad Anker, who was greatly affected not just on account of Alex’s tragic fate but because he had been with him on the fateful day as a fellow climber and consequently suffered from survivor’s guilt.

As the film goes on, it could seem that Max in choosing to make this film was putting inappropriate pressure on those interviewed, especially the family members, and he is certainly unsparing when it comes to asking difficult questions. But it is the honesty of the film that impresses both early on and in treating the various developments that occur in the years after Alex Lowe’s death and which lead the film into areas that are unexpected. As a documentary, this is an intriguing work, but its ultimate justification lies in the fact that by its close you feel that the process of participating in it has provided therapy for all of the people concerned. You come to feel that healing is underway at last. It has taken twenty years for them to reach this point, but now they are no longer living under a shadow in the way that they had been for all of that time.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Featuring  Conrad Anker, Jennifer Lowe-Anker, Isaac Lowe-Anker, Sam Lowe-Anker, Max Lowe, Andrew McLean, David Goettler, Jimmy Chin, Bill Belcourt, Alice Phinney, Michael Brown.

Dir Max Lowe, Pro Jonathan Chan, Simon Chan, Chris Murphy and Max Lowe, Screenplay Michael Harte, Ph Logan Schneider, Ed Michael Harte, Music Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans.

National Geographic Documentary Films/a Lightbox production/Wilderpeople-Dogwoof Pictures.
92 mins. USA. 2021. US Rel: 3 December 2021. UK Rel: 21 January 2022. No Cert.