In the right hands, a docudrama can deliver all the excitement, emotion and storytelling of the very best feature films -- and director Kevin Macdonald has done that with startling clarity in the mountaineering adventure Touching the Void.

| Jan 23, 2019

Excruciatingly tense story of a terrible accident.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 29, 2010

"Void" plummets into the nucleus of instinct and consciousness - survival a near-primordial pursuit beyond bravery or weakness. It concocts no comfort about what was gained, but stares in transfixed, unforgettable awe at the horror of all that was lost.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Nov 4, 2010

"Touching the Void" towers above the rest of that rarest of all film genres, the docudrama.

| Original Score: A+ | Aug 9, 2009

This harrowing, white-knuckle tale of human endurance and gut-wrenching dilemma mingles the dramatization of these events and interviews with both climbers into an unforgettable, sometimes comically deadpan nightmare.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 7, 2008

Touching the Void leaves you emotionally and physically spent, and grateful it was only a movie, not a mountain, you had to endure.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2007

Awesome and harrowing.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2007

A slow starter which builds into a chilling depiction of the agonising disintegration of body and mind as they are exposed to the elements.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 1, 2006

As a meditation on extreme human endeavour, character, friendship and the mysteries revealed by facing death, it provides much food for thought.

| Feb 9, 2006

About a primal war waged by man against both himself and the natural world that surrounds him.

| Original Score: B+ | May 4, 2005

It's certainly a far better thriller than anything Hollywood has churned out lately.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 5, 2005

This is a gripping tale of courage and survival with gorgeous cinematography.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Oct 7, 2004

With his new film Macdonald has achieved, if not physical elevation, then at least spiritual soaring.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Oct 6, 2004

Most movies of this type re-create the action far from the actual scene of the crime, but Macdonald has invented a new subgenre: a docudrama in which the docu and the drama are equally authentic.

Full Review | Aug 7, 2004

The facts drop away, and it becomes impossible not to read the movie symbolically -- as a journey to the center of the earth, or farther still.

Full Review | Aug 1, 2004

Illustrates the inherent human instinct to self-preserve.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Jun 28, 2004

Forget those Hollywood movies about extreme sports. MacDonald...has created a thrilling picture about a high-risk sport based on a true story.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 22, 2004

A combinação de depoimentos e reencenações extremamente realistas transformam este "docudrama" em um filme tenso, emocionante e inspirador.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 21, 2004

if you've considered heading for the high ground, the movie might steer you toward a less taxing hobby -- perhaps chainsaw-juggling or organizing piranha water ballets.

| May 22, 2004

If I said this is about the adventures of three guys on a mountain, you'd probably go to the next page. But if I said it will have you on the edge of your seat, you might go.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | May 18, 2004