Surviving Everest (1995)
Film:
DVD:

Written by Theodore Strauss

Features:

• Bonus Program: "Surviving Everest: Firsthand Accounts"
  
• Photo gallery
  
• Mount Everest Locator Map
  
• Trivia quiz
  
• Trailers for Avalanche: The White Death, Himalayan River Run and Braving Alaska
  
• Interview with Sir Edmund Hillary
  

Anamorphic: N/A; appears in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

My Advice: Rent It.

Thirty years after the first team summitted Everest, the two men who first stood at the highest point on Earth--Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay--return to the mountain for an anniversary celebration. Hillary has his son in tow, and the program deals with what Hillary has done since that historic day. He has apparently become a staunch advocate for the Sherpas of the area, helping to build numerous schools and hospitals and helping to get an edge on surviving in this modern world.

I was confused upon popping this disc in, because the lead program on the disc is actually called "Return to Everest" and was a television special back from 1984. The title "Surviving Everest" leads one to think that...well, the title explains the program--when instead it's a nice documentary about the aftermath of that occasion. It does tend to overdramatize certain sections--such as relating the death of Hillary's wife and daughter in a plane crash elsewhere in the region. That's tragedy enough--having narration over solitary shots of Hillary walking pushes the necessary envelope, but luckily doesn't completely demolish it.

The bonus program, which is actually called "Surviving Everest," is fairly intense. It features survivors of Everest expeditions relating exactly what one can expect when trying to summit the highest mountain on Earth. And after watching it, you might share my thoughts on the subject: that namely you've got to be mad as a hatter to go to a place where because of air pressure a nice hard cough can break ribs. But, to each his own kick, I guess. This program is pretty solid, and would be worthy just on its own. I'd like to point out though--and this is a beef of mine with most of the National Geographic discs, it just is more telling on this one where the bonus program is almost a half-hour long--that on anything that's more than ten minutes in length, it's inexcusable not to have chapter stops. There's nothing more annoying than having to go to a program and have to keep up with where you left off so you can fast forward to it.

There's also an interview with Hillary from the standpoint of filmmaking and how it relates to both Hillary's Everest experience and what has gone since. As the interviewer (who really needed to have a mic on her) points out, since the first photo taken on Everest was of Norgay--that makes Hillary the first filmmaker on the summit. This is about ten minutes in length and a nice little bonus.

The remaining features are standard fare. The locator map for Everest is basically a map of the region with a triangle for Everest--so it's even more useless than usual. The quiz, three questions long, like always is a bit of a disappointment. And there are the other trailers. So nothing startling here.

The disc serves to house a pair of very interesting documentaries. Like most National Geographic discs, I don't know that I would advise owning it--since the replay value is a bit low on ninety percent of the documentaries out there--but contentwise it's one of the best. Rental, at least.