Most fun this weekend was attempting to teach dad how to use a DVD player. I bought a 29.99 special from Touching the Void that Vicki very kindly gave me (cheers!). Fabulous film, and every bit as gripping second time around.
I was also really keen to see the extras, although they weren’t all that they could have been. There’s a “What Happened Next” which detailed how they got Joe Simpson away from the base of the mountain and, eventually, back to the UK. Then there was a quite revealing documentary about the making of the film in Peru. Much of the mountain action was actually filmed in the Alps, but the behind the scenes featurette was all in the Andes with the trials and tribulations of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates reacting quite differently. Simon Yates pulled out of the project completely on return from Peru, but we learnt no more than that. I suppose it’s my general inquisitiveness that makes me want to find out what lies behind that choice.
Watch this film!