Mountain climber takes IMAX viewers to amazing heights

The Alps (Ontario Science Centre) — When John Harlin III was just nine, his father, an avid mountain climber, fell to his death while climbing the dangerous north face of the Eiger in Switzerland. Harlin grew up loving climbing as his father did — he’s the editor of the American Alpine Journal — but had never climbed the Eiger himself. For this big-screen film, cameras follow Harlin as he takes this challenging three-day journey. Physically, what Harlin and his Swiss climbing partners Daniela and Robert Jasper do is amazing: they’re scaling sheer rock, straight up. The crew apparently propped cameras on the mountain at various points to capture the climb. There are intense up-close shots of them whacking at rock with pick axes and groping around for footholds. There’re also a lot of distance shots of the three hanging off the frozen rock, held together by strings of ropes. Then the cameras pull back to show the whole mountain and the climbers rapidly turn into dots, then disappear. The film’s strength is not just these adventure shots, but also footage of Harlin and his family going to Switzerland, riding the train together, and saying goodbye at the foot of the mountain. There’s also a lot of voice-overs by Harlin about the mountain and his father. It’s pretty emotional stuff, and makes this Imax film a lot more rich in plot than usual. I guess this material wasn’t enough to fill the time, because there’re also moments where Harlin meets up with an expert on Switzerland and mountain life and also a researcher who studies avalanches. Runs until April  at the Ontario Science Centre, 770 Don Mills Road, 416-696-1000, ontariosciencecentre.ca.