Into Thin Air: Death on Everest (DVD, 2001)

Having read Jon Krakauer's book, "Into Thin Air", I looked forward to seeing this movie about the terrible tragedy that claimed the lives of eight people on Mount Everest in May of 1996. For those who have not read the book, seeing this movie will probably have you out looking for a copy, as you will want to read more about just how things got so bad so fast for these poor climbers. The story in the movie is told from the viewpoint of Mr. Krakauer; as we meet the various people who he climbed with that May, I feel a good effort was put forth of the kind of people who are into the whole mountain climbing scene. It is interesting to see how quite a few of those folks really had no business doing what they were doing, and problems in the making were there right from the start. This is a good film, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys outdoor activities and stories of heroic adventures. My only gripe with this film are the numerous "blank spots" as you go along, places obviously for commercial insertion when the movie was shown on television. The story didn't quite flow as good as it could have, had these blank spots been taken out for the DVD version.