Film Review: K2: Siren Of The Himalayas

K2: Siren Of The Himalayas opens with a shot of three people against a background of bluish white. These figures are small and dark in the frame against nature’s backdrop, but they are clearly determined. A title card tells us: “As of June 2009, only 302 people had stood on the summit of K2.”

The film then takes us back to 1909, with footage from the first major expedition to climb K2, led by Luigi Amedeo, the Duke of Abruzzi. The year 2009 marked the one hundredth anniversary of that original expedition, and this documentary goes back and forth between the two expeditions. It’s such an interesting way of presenting the information because it acts as both an historical document and a log of a new expedition, and so we see how some things have changed, but – more importantly – how most things have not.

The film takes us through the activities of the 2009 expedition, giving us a day-by-day account. Just getting to the mountain is a journey in itself, as the film shows. At one point on the road (and I use the term road lightly), we hear one of the men say, “This right here is the scariest part of any K2 expedition.” It sounds like a joke, but just watch. The road, such as it is, basically ends, and the trucks continue over rocks above a river. I was getting nervous just watching. The film includes excerpts in voice over from the official account of the 1909 expedition, written by Filippo de Filippi, showing how the two efforts are united in a similar pursuit and in similar experiences.

There are interviews with Fabrizio Zangrilli, Chris Szymiec, Jake Myer and Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, who were all involved in the 2009 expedition. And they are really allowed to tell the story themselves, rather than having the film rely on an outside narrator.

The film provides lots of great information, like about the different routes used to tackle the mountain, and about the methods of avoiding altitude sickness. There is also information about the 2008 expedition, as well as the 1953 expedition, and about the K2 memorial.

And of course there is plenty of gorgeous footage. The 1909 account includes these wonderful lines: “All the landscape around K2 has the richest variety of design, the greatest majesty of form, and an infinite diversity of plane and perspective. The idea comes into one’s mind of being in the workshop of nature.” Indeed. And this is at Concordia Camp, before the real climb had even begun.

K2: Siren Of The Himalayas was directed by Dave Ohlson, and was released in theatres in the U.S. on August 22, 2014. It is scheduled for a November DVD release.