I just recently watched
127 Hours, which I thought was a great movie.
I really enjoy movies that explore the limits of human endurance, so I thought I'd share a couple I like and I recommend you do the same.
The first is a movie called
Touching the Void. It's a pseudo-documentary, with all of the main people involved being interviewed on camera while actors re-enact the events. Basically, the story is that two climbers attempt a highly dangerous mountain climb. On the way back down a storm hits. As events turn out, there is a point where one of the climbers ends up hanging by a rope over a ledge. With zero visibility and no communication, the climber holding him up has to make the agonizing choice to cut the rope supporting his friend. Here's where the movie gets interesting, the guy hanging in space falls and ends up breaking his leg, but doesn't die. The rest of the movie is his brutal journey down the mountain with a broken leg.
It's horrifying stuff. There's never a question that he survives, the guy it happened to is there on screen talking about it. Fascinating, and very well done.
The second is a documentary called
The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. It tells the story of Ernest Shackleton's exploration to try and cross Antarctica during the early 20th century's exploration boom. The venture fails very early on when the ship gets stuck in the ice. For the next several months, Shackleton manages to keep his crew alive and non-mutiny prone. Eventually the fact that there is no out raises it's ugly head, and they all have to cross the ice to stay alive. I don't want to spoil the story for you if you're not familiar with it, but the lengths they all have to do to make it back to civilization is an amazing story. Inspiring really.