MovieChat Forums > Sherpa (2016) Discussion > Wonderful, overdue, film.

Wonderful, overdue, film.

posted 8 years ago by SCraigNZ
4 replies | jump to latest

My husband and I saw Sherpa at a special screening earlier this week.

The film is breathtaking. And I left the cinema feeling SO angry at all the rich westerners who pay so much money to climb Everest - something they could not do were it not for the Sherpa men and women who haul ridiculously heavy loads over incredibly dangerous areas of the mountain time and again throughout the climbing season - risking their lives for a few $$.

Throughout the screening I felt so many emotions - awe, admiration, extreme sadness and intense anger!

I actually came away thinking that Everest should be off limits to the money making West but then Nepal would lose millions in tourist dollars and the Sherpas would lose one of their main ways of making money.

I urge everyone to see this film.

"I'd rather have 3 minutes of wonderful than a whole life time of nothing special."

[–] Cinaet 8 years ago

...SO angry at all the rich westerners...

Some are rich. Lots aren't. Lots of people save for years to have enough money to buy in to an Everest expedition. Maybe $60,000 to $80,000 is nothing to you but that's a hunk out of a working life for lots of people. As usual, those with the least, sherpas and "westerners" alike, are the ones who lost the most.

[–] toelawlor 8 years ago

Fact is anyone that can blow $60 to $80 grand on a single event no matter how long it took them to save it, is rich, at least to a Sherpa or even a Nepalese. I am not too badly off but I'd be hard pressed to save that kind of money in my lifetime. I thought the Movie was presented well but what was really a bit sickening was that guy who was calling the Sherpas terrorists because they were engaged in what was industrial action, an activity we are all well used to in the west.

[–] toelawlor 8 years ago

[–] Juliegirlj4 8 years ago

Sadly a lot was left unclear in the film. Regarding the three climbers that were the center of the fight, they are alpine climbers that are at the top of their field, and climb without the use or support of Sherpas. It seems they were scapegoats in the deepening resentment towards western climbers. There are stark differences in cultures, and communication lapses at play here. I believe the brunt of the responsibility lies in the owner of the mountaineering company that employed the Sherpas that became angry and violent. He is paying them to represent his company, and as such, their violence, was inappropriate.