Mountain Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Mountain Blu-ray Movie Review

Because the Footage Was There

Reviewed by Michael Reuben October 8, 2018

Mountain is a 2017 non-fiction creation by Australian filmmaker Jennifer Peedom, who primarily makes documentaries. But Mountain isn't a traditional documentary. It's more of a collage, assembled by Peedom from thousands of hours of footage collected from all over the world by Renan Ozturk, the cinematographer on Peedom's previous film, Sherpa . Peedom then collaborated with Robert Macfarlane on a narration to accompany the images, much of it adapted from Macfarlane's book, Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination. The Australian Chamber Orchestra created a soundtrack to accompany the images that was itself a collage of selections from Chopin, Beethoven, Grieg and other classical composers (with some original scoring to connect them). The film debuted at the Sydney Opera House in June 2017, with the ACO performing the score live. It was then released to theaters and has now been issued by Greenwich, a specialty label under the MPI Media umbrella.

There are several narrative strands in Mountain, and they don't always weave together neatly. The first and most obvious is a contemplation of mountains' imposing majesty. The aerial footage from ranges all over the world conveys that sense effectively, even without the narration, which is read by Willem Dafoe.

A second strand only gradually appears, and it reflects the origin of much of Mountain's footage in photographic capture of extreme sports. Where the world's highest peaks were once beyond reach, and hence inspired as much fear as awe, they have gradually become accessible to a special clan of adventurers. Vintage historical footage windowboxed in the center of the widescreen frame illustrates the progression from the arduous exploration of mountains to their conquest as a recreational destination for adrenaline junkies. The film even goes one step further in showing how peaks like Mt. Everest that were once the specialized playground of a select few have become tourist destinations. "This isn't climbing anymore", says the narration. "It's crowd control"—and despite Dafoe's best efforts, you can hear a faint sneer behind the words.

A third strand is less developed and only pops up near the end. As snows melt and water flows downhill to forests below and their animal populations, mountains are also seen as a source of life (though whether it's the mountains themselves or the climate around them remains a debatable point).

All of this is set to the stirring strains of the Australian Chamber Orchestra's performance and underlined by the spectacular visuals assembled by Peedom and her editors. Mountain is undoubtedly an impressive achievement, but it's a curiously unsatisfying one. You don't come away from it with a new appreciation for nature's grandeur, as you frequently do with BBC Earth's documentaries. You're more likely to respond with wonder at the crazy things some people will do for a thrill—or to get a good shot.

Mountain Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The list of cinematographers in Mountain's credits is a long one, and given the multiplicity of sources, the consistency of the film's visuals is a tribute to its digital colorist. Renan Ozturk (Sherpa) remains the credited cinematographer, but according to the extras, much of his contribution consisted of providing access to the work of others. The image on Greenwich/MPI's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray glowingly reproduces the awesome splendor of the high altitude images, some captured from helicopters, others from fellow climbers who added professional-quality digital cameras to the weight of their gear. The colors are brilliant, from the bright whites and gentle blues of the snow and ice in the Himalayas to the rich, variegated earth tones of the numerous peaks and rock formations from all over the world. (The credits list twenty-one locations ranging from Antarctica to the U.S.) Detail is superb throughout, which is especially important in long shots of climbers, skiers and other adventurers navigating perilous slopes like toy figures. In closeups of rock climbers clinging to vertical surfaces without so much as a safety line, the crystal clear juxtaposition of human and nature emphasizes the peril. The standard anamorphic widescreen frame has been opened up slightly to 2.24:1, which is just fine. With a film like Mountain, the more there is to see, the better.

The only flaw in the image (and it's a minor one) is occasional banding, usually in shots where the light is changing rapidly. Mountain has been mastered at an average bitrate of 29.39 Mbps, which gives ample breathing room to its complicated landscapes and photography that is almost always in motion.

Mountain Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The two principal elements in Mountain's 5.1 soundtrack, encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA, are Willem Dafoe's narration and the Australian Chamber Orchestra's performance of the multifaceted score. Dafoe's voice remains at the center, but slightly away from the screen, while the ACO's instruments expand across the front soundstage and into the surrounds with excellent fidelity and wide dynamic range. Subtly layered into the mix at strategic moments are distant winds and other environmental sounds. (The re-recording mixer, Robert Mackenzie, was nominated for an Australian Screen Sound Guild award.) It must have been a thrill for the audience at the Sydney Opera House to experience the ACO's performance live and in real time, but the Blu-ray track brings you as close to that experience as is possible in a recording.

Mountain Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of Mountain (1080p; 1.78:1; 24:50): An informative short documentary.



• Behind the Mountain: A Conversation with Director Jennifer Peedom (1080p; 1.78:1; 10:48): The film's director and co-writer describes her work on the project, including the choice of Dafoe as narrator.



• Q&A with Writer Robert Macfarlane and Mountaineer Matthew Dieumegard-Thornton (1080p; 1.78:1; 34:19): This isn't a traditional Q&A, since there's no audience. It's a conversation between the two named participants, both of whom are "insiders", in that Macfarlane helped write the film and Dieumegard-Thornton views the footage from the perspective of an expert on the challenges of mountain climbing.



• Trailer (1080p; 2.24:1; 2:44).

Mountain Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Lovers of nature documentaries will want to add Mountain to their collection, because the footage is extraordinary (and heretofore unseen). Kindred spirits of the film's adventure-seekers may be inspired to duplicate some of their feats. But anyone looking for philosophical insight into mountains' majesty would be better advised to seek out Macfarlane's original text. The film is an impressive panorama of natural wonders, but as a meditation it fails to soar.