Sheer film-making skill is on show in SHERPA, a peak performance in documentary film.
Back in 1953, Everest was “conquered” by Kiwi, Edmund Hilary. Sir Ed and his expedition would not have stood a snowball’s of success if it was not for the support and local expertise of the Sherpa, specifically Tenzing Norgay.
Contemporary expeditioners are no less reliant on these highly skilled high altitude workers, and the sheer volume of those attempting the perilous climb are putting increased strains and pressures on them.In the 60 years since Hilary humped the Himalayas, the mountain has become a Mecca for affluent adventurers creating not so much a cottage industry but a behemoth enterprise. Peak traffic is causing a jam from base camp to the tip as every man and his blog has decided to go on a summit holiday.
In 2013, media reports from the mountain told of uncharacteristic behaviour from the happy, shiny Sherpa, that they had cracked the shits with foul mouthed foreigners and were trading blows.
Determined to explore what was going on, a group of Australian film-makers, led by intrepid director, Jennifer Peedom, set out to make a film of the 2014 Everest climbing season, from the Sherpas’ point of view.
Instead, they captured a tragedy that would change Everest forever. At 6.45am on 18th April, 2014, a 14 million ton block of ice crashed down onto the climbing route through the Khumbu Icefall, killing 16 Sherpas. It was the worst tragedy in the history of Everest.
The disaster provoked a drastic reappraisal about the role of the Sherpas in the Everest industry, and the film SHERPA, tells the story of how, in the face of fierce opposition, the Sherpas united in grief and anger to reclaim the mountain they call Chomolungma.
The hordes of Himalayas humpers, in general, are perceived by the indigenous Sherpa as ignorant of the space as a sacred site and are largely disrespectful to the environment and well being of their human pack animals.
The picture Peedem initially set out to do begins twelve days earlier in the village of Khumjung, where Phurba Tashi Sherpa is preparing for the annual influx of foreign climbers. He first got to the top of nearby Everest in 1999 and if he does so again this year he will make history by being the first person to summit the mercilessly dangerous mountain 22 times.
Phurba Tashi and his family figure prominently as a narrative spine through this incredibly immersive experience that chronicles the thousands of kilograms of gear hauled up to Base Camp each year by porters and yaks, for example, so that a tent village can be set up from scratch there.
The Government doesn’t permit equipment to be flown up the mountain so everything that goes into building these camps has to be carried and it’s the Sherpas that do that work, including going through the most dangerous section, the Khumbu Icefall.
SHERPA is an extraordinary depiction of economic exploitation and ecological vandalism – the apex of avarice, the zenith of rapacity meets the base concerns of occupational health and safety,
Peedom’s experience as a high altitude director on several expeditions including Discovery Channel’s six-part series EVEREST: BEYOND THE LIMIT shows as does the strong friendship with Sherpa people over forged working in the Himalayas since 2004.
Key crew were the Sherpa camera operators. Not only a creative decision but a solid reinforcement that Sherpa are intelligent, capable and creative technicians and not just dumb porters, a stereotype that this film goes great lengths to dispel.
Visually impressive, historically enlightening, socially powerful, SHERPA is an astonishing cinematic experience.
