The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest Film Review

Anthony Geffen's The Wildest Dream is a thrilling IMAX adventure released by National Geographic which explores the ill-fated 1924 summit assault of Mount Everest by world-renowned English mountaineer George Mallory and climbing partner Sandy Irvine. The decades-long speculation about whether or not George Mallory may have indeed reached the summit of Everest some 29 years before Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay is investigated by Conrad Anker, the American mountaineer who discovered Mallory's body during an expedition on Everest in 1999. The Wildest Dream explores whether it's possible that George Mallory perished on his way down from the summit rather than during the ascent.

The Wildest Dream is a compelling exploration of a question that is unanswerable. Did English climber George Mallory make it to the summit of Everest? Was it even possible for him to free climb Everest's foreboding Second Step back in 1924? The scenario is recreated by Conrad Anker and fellow climber Leo Houlding when they attempt to duplicate what seems like an impossible feat by climbing Everest's perilous Second Step at 28,140 feet above sea level without ropes or ladders - something that just doesn't happen these days.

The Wildest Dream is loaded with stunning visuals captured by daring camera operators that make the viewer feel as if they are indeed on the slopes of Everest. The audience becomes acquainted with George Mallory and his beloved wife, Ruth, through letters, photographs, an interview with Mallory's granddaughter and video footage unseen until now. Numerous letters were found on Mallory's body when Anker discovered it in 1999. Liam Neeson narrates and in a strange twist, his late wife Natasha Richardson reads for Mallory's wife, Ruth. It's notable that Natasha Richardson died due to a head injury sustained on an ice-covered mountain in Canada in recent years. Other voices in the film include Hugh Dancy, Alan Rickman, and Ralph Fiennes.

The audience also becomes acquainted with Conrad Anker's family as the story unfolds. As it turns out, Anker eventually married his deceased best friend's wife, a woman who knows firsthand the pain of not having her husband come home from the mountains. It's just one more interesting element in an already intricately woven tale of love and the life and death situations faced on Mount Everest.

Anthony Geffen's big screen debut will captivate armchair adventurers and anyone drawn to the stark beauty of the Himalayas. The Wildest Dream offers suspense, adventure, and two love stories thrown in for good measure.

Source: The Wildest Dream