Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on June 2014

In an age where summiting Mount Everest is so common-place that there’s a littering problem, we tend to forget just what Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay accomplished back in 1953. But not if filmmaker Leanne Pooley has anything to say about it. She has combined archival footage and photos with some well-done reenactment techniques (Chad Moffitt is a dead ringer for Sir Hillary) and audio interviews (refreshingly, no talking heads) to come up with this tense, you-are-there adventure film. Captures not only the thrill of the conquest but also the incredible fear and uncertainty that led up to it. Japanese title: Tenku no Itadaki Rekishi wo Kaeta Everest Hatsu-tocho. (90 min)