Movie of the Month: Tempting Fear
(Last Updated On: January 14, 2013)
Movie of the Month: Tempting Fear
Produced/Directes by: Bruno Bertrand / Mike Douglas
Year: 2012
Where can I find it? on You Tube!
This movie is not your standard ski porn. It’s a movie about ski mountaineering. Andreas Fransson had been bagging some of Chamonix’s toughest lines when luck had its way with him. He was snapped off the rope when an avalanche pummeled down on him during a mid-route rappel of the Y-couloir on the Aiguille Vert. Frannson broke many bones in his body, including his pelvis and his neck.
This is where the movie begins. Tempting Fear is about Frannson’s recovery – not the physical recovery, but the mental recovery that one faces after a near-death experience. The movie is a documentary which follows Frannson around the globe from January 2011 to May 2012, showing point-of-view cinematography and highlights excerpts from Frannson’s blog. Several scenes are featured in this movie, following Frannson to Norway, Ecuador, and Peru, several trips to Chamonix, and his first descent down the south face of Denali. Extreme snowboarder Xavier de la Rue even makes an appearance, joining Frannson on a dicey Chamonix line. Frannson takes viewers to a church in Cham to honor his fallen friend, Felix Hentz, whom he calls “brother” – who died in an avalanche. In the end, it tells a story of triumph and fear, and is packed with humble accomplishments.
If parts of the movie confuse you, never fear. Most of Frannson’s story is clarified at the end of the movie with a summary of each of Frannson’s accomplishments during the timeline of this documentary.
Along the lines of Jeremy Jones’s Deeper, Tempting Fear is about facing the mountains in all their elements. In many ways, the cinematography does not do Frannson’s skiing capabilities and accomplishments justice. Then again, few have or ever will venture down the lines he has traveled.
Best yet – Thanks to Solomon TV, you can watch this movie for free on YouTube!
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