''North Face'' (german: Nordwand) is a 2008

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

film directed by

Philipp Stölzl Philipp Stölzl (born 1967 in Munich) is a German director. He began to direct music videos in the mid-1990s and directed his first feature film in 2002. Life and career Philipp Stölzl was trained as a set and costume designer at the Münchner ...

and starring

Benno Fürmann Benjamin "Benno" Fürmann (; born 17 January 1972) is a German film and television actor. He is known for his lead role in the 2008 film ''The North Face'', where he plays Toni Kurz based on the 1936 Eiger climbing disaster in Switzerland. Li ...

Florian Lukas Florian Lukas (16 March 1973) is a German actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, ...

Johanna Wokalek Johanna Wokalek (born 3 March 1975) is a German stage and film actress. A student of Klaus Maria Brandauer, she received critical recognition and three newcomer awards for her performance in the play ''Rose Bernd''. Wokalek is best known for her ...

, and

Ulrich Tukur Ulrich Tukur (born Ulrich Gerhard Scheurlen; 29 July 1957) is a German actor and musician. Early life and education Tukur spent his youth near Hannover where he finished his final secondary school examinations in 1977. He also earned a high sch ...

. Based on the famous 1936 attempt to climb the

Eiger The Eiger () is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends a ...

north face, the film is about two German climbers involved in a competition to climb the most dangerous rock face in the Alps.

Plot

In 1936, climbers attempt to summit the

via the north face, the last major unclimbed Alpine face. German climbers

Toni Kurz Toni Kurz (13 January 1913 – 22 July 1936) was a German mountain climber active in the 1930s. He died in 1936 during an attempt to climb the then-unclimbed north face of the Eiger with his partner Andreas Hinterstoisser. Biography Toni Kurz ...

( Fürmann) and Andi Hinterstoisser (

Lukas Lukas is a form of the Latin name Lucas. Popularity In 2013 it was the ninth most popular name for boys in Australia. Meaning and different spellings * Amharic - Luqas (ሉቃስ) * Arabic - Luqa (لوقا) / Luqas (لوكاس) * Armenian - Ղ ...

) and novice journalist Louise ( Wokalek) are childhood friends from

Berchtesgaden Berchtesgaden () is a municipality in the district Berchtesgadener Land, Bavaria, in southeastern Germany, near the border with Austria, south of Salzburg and southeast of Munich. It lies in the Berchtesgaden Alps, south of Berchtesgaden; the ...

, Bavaria. Toni and Louise are also romantically involved. The men enlisted in the army and are successful amateur climbers. After hearing of an attempt on the Eiger north face, they decide to compete to make the ascent. In spite of their false claims that one of them is getting married while the other is to be the best man, they are refused leave from the army. They quit the service, being more interested in mountaineering than politics. Meanwhile, the competing team of

Austrians , pop = 8–8.5 million , regions = 7,427,759 , region1 = , pop1 = 684,184 , ref1 = , region2 = , pop2 = 345,620 , ref2 = , region3 = , pop3 = 197,990 , ref3 ...

are hoping for a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

-led incorporation of Austria into Germany. Louise's superiors at the newspaper see a media opportunity and send her and her editor, she serving as a photographer, to cover the pair's ascent. Having no funds, Kurz and Hinterstoisser travel to the

Bernese Alps , topo_map= Swiss Federal Office of Topography swisstopo , photo=BerneseAlps.jpg , photo_caption=The Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau , country= Switzerland , subdivision1_type=Cantons , subdivision1= , parent= Western Alps , borders_on= , l ...

on bicycles and share a tent, while the reporter pair stay in the luxurious hotel at

Kleine Scheidegg The Kleine Scheidegg ( en, Little Scheidegg) is a mountain pass at an elevation of , situated below and between the Eiger and Lauberhorn peaks in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. The name means "minor watershed", as it only divides the ...

. Competing French and Italian climbers assess the conditions and decide to abort their attempt, leaving the German and Austrian teams. Once both pairs begin, others watch from below. After a series of incidents, the teams are forced to join together to survive and descend to safety. A rescue team comes within metres of reaching the last climber, but a knot between two short ropes is unable to pass through his

carabiner A carabiner or karabiner () is a specialized type of shackle, a metal loop with a spring-loaded gate used to quickly and reversibly connect components, most notably in safety-critical systems. The word is a shortened form of ''Karabinerhaken' ...

. Kurz dies within earshot of Louise. Distraught at losing her best friends and repelled by her editor's cynicism, Louise resigns. Later, she finds work as a professional photographer in postwar New York.

Cast

Production

;Filming locations *

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Dachstein Hoher Dachstein () is a strongly karstic mountain in central Austria and the second-highest mountain in the Northern Limestone Alps. It is situated at the border of Upper Austria and Styria, and is the highest point in each of those states. Pa ...

, Steiermark, Austria *

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

, Styria, Austria *

, Kanton Bern, Switzerland *

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Reception

;Critical response After a successful theatrical run in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, the film was released in several non-German speaking countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan from 2009-2010, receiving favorable reviews throughout. Some critics have argued that this is a brilliant metaphor for Germanic anti-Semitism. ;Awards and nominations * 2009 German Film Award in Gold for Best Cinematography (Kolja Brandt) * 2009 German Film Award in Gold for Best Sound (Heinz Ebner, Guido Zettier, Christian Bischoff, Tschangis Chahrokh) * 2009 German Film Award in Gold Nomination for Best Production Design (Udo Kramer) * 2009 German Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography (Kolja Brandt) * 2009 German Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay (Philipp Stölzl, Christoph Silber, Rupert Henning, Johannes Naber) * 2009 Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Award Nomination for Best Sound Editing - Foreign Feature (Alexander Buck, Carsten Richter, Alexander Vitt, Guido Zettier, Tobias Poppe)

Historical elements of the plot

* German government publicity did draw attention to German and Austrian mountaineering, and to climbing the North Face in particular, as matters of German national and ethnic pride. * The names and nationalities of the members of the historical single team of four who set out to attempt the ascent together correspond to those of the members of the two fictional teams. * Like the fictional Andi and Toni, the historical

Andreas Hinterstoisser Andreas Hinterstoisser (3 October 1914 – 21 July 1936) was a German mountain climber active in the 1930s. He died during an attempt to climb the Eiger north face with his partner Toni Kurz. A section of the north face was later named the "Hinter ...

and

did have a shared association with Berchtesgaden, having, two years before their deaths, established a route together on the

Berchtesgadener Hochthron The Berchtesgaden Hochthron is the highest peak of the Untersberg massif in the Berchtesgaden Alps in Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany. The summit of the Berchtesgaden Hochthron offers one of the best views of the Berchtesgaden region, because i ...

. * The route of the historical team is essentially as portrayed in the film. * The rope that Hinterstoisser placed on the Hinterstoisser Traverse, and was used by the others to cross, was removed before the last team member continued upward. * When recovered, the corpse of one of the Austrian climbers showed he had been bandaged for a head wound. * During the descent Andi did attempt to cross the area known as Hinterstoisser Traverse using the pendulum traverse, as he had the ascent, and gave up when he realised his efforts were futile. (Even though the scene in the movie is short, Andi tried for hours but to no avail) * A rope supporting two climbers was cut ** to move forward with the attempt at rescue (rather than in crisis of the next seconds or few minutes), ** below the climber doing the cutting (rather by one of climbers dropping as a result), ** on instructions from the rescuers, and ** after the two appeared beyond communicating or helping in their own rescue. * After the

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...

, Kurz: ** was the only team member with hope for survival, ** had lost a glove and found the corresponding arm stiff and useless, ** communicated with would-be rescuers at the tunnel "window", ** unravelled a rope using teeth and one hand over the course of five hours, producing a longer cord which he lowered so an additional rope could be tied to it and sent up for the rest of his descent, *

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

between Germany and Austria had substantial public support in Austria, and was effected in 1938.Nordwand – North Face by All About War Movies (2012)

References

External links

* *
North Face
' a
Rotten Tomatoes
{{Authority control 2008 films 2008 biographical drama films 2000s disaster films 2000s sports drama films 2000s survival films Austrian biographical drama films Austrian sports drama films German disaster films German biographical drama films German sports drama films Swiss biographical drama films Biographical films about sportspeople Mountaineering films Films about death Films about friendship Films about Nazi Germany Films directed by Philipp Stölzl Films set in 1936 Films set in Switzerland Films set in the Alps Films shot in Switzerland Films shot in Austria Eiger 2008 drama films 2000s German films 2000s German-language films