Netflix, Mars Films, France 2 Cinema, Rhone-Alps Cinema present Ahmed Sylla (Samy Diakh) Alice Bolaide (Nadia), Nicolas Wanczycki (Jeff), Umesh Tamana (Johnny Le Sherpa) Waly Dia (Max), Kevin Razy (Ben), Maimouna Gueye (Mme Diak), Denis Mpunga (M. Diakhate) Mariama Gueye, Director, Ludovic Bernard, Writer, Olivier Ducray, Ludovic Bernard, Nadir Dendoune © 2017
What can’t any man do for the woman he loves? The climb is about such a man, Ahmed Sylla (Samy Diakh), a Senegalese-French twenty-six years old. He wagers his chance to get acceptance from the woman he loves. He promises her he’ll climb Mount Everest, in return, will gain her love. But only if he rises to the top of the 29,029 feet, Mount Everest. It seems like a story we read in elementary school about a young Knight going to war to bring home glory for the Princess’s love in the Castle. Maybe the warring king’s crown for a trophy.
The Climb is a romantic comedy based on a real story. At twenty-six, Samy Diakh climbs to the world’s highest elevation. All with a boyish demeanor, practically, like a kid. He had graduated from high school and has no intent to go either further in school or find a gainful job. He slings joint on the streets of Paris and gets in and out with the law. He has one love of his life who doesn’t want to have anything with him until he does something impressive, or maybe gainful. In a joke, he tells Nadia (Alice Bolaide):
“I’d climb Mount Everest if I have to!”
“Will you?”
“You need proof to know you can count on your man?”
“Someone I can lean on.”
“You will see, I’m no loser. And that I care.”
“Oh, yeah, you can do that for me?”
“Yes, I will. I can even give you children.”
“Climb Everest first, then we talk about children.”
Shortly before ascension, the local radio station with whom he has connections gives him air time. I’m speaking about those guerrilla radio stations sprouting everywhere. Urban Radio. The youths love them. He tells the personalities, laughing, that he is taking the journey to the highest mountain in the world for himself and someone he loves. Nadia. Samy becomes an immediate sensation. The reasons are, he’s black and from the Estates (ghetto). Samy doesn’t even like the mountains. He wants the sea where he can lay on the beaches with a loved one, sipping on whatever. By the time his father gives him the parting words, “Try to make it this time.” Samy takes the first step to the top of Mount Everest.
Samy lands in Khatmadou, where he starts the mountain climb; he hardly knew the 29,029 feet high monolithic symbol, and its rigors to navigate. He even finds out he is ill-clad for the adventure. The guard, Johnny Lee (Umesh Tamana), takes him along the trail. Samy communicates with the radio station at his arrival in Khatmadou, and they got him on a live interview.
“Yes, I hear you.”
“Thousands of people are listening. Tell us about Khatmadou.”
“Well, it’s a bit small town. There are temples everywhere.”
Samy is basking in his first success. Hear and look at him on the phone with the home base, local radio station. The home base’s followers have grown, especially among school-going kids going crazy, pulling their hairs. He becomes an instant idol in the eyes of the populace. Samy never has to wager his happiness, future, and liveliness on Nadia’s love. That matters of course, but he tells us, first, he is doing it for himself. To prove his manliness. He remembers his father’s parting word, “Try to make it this time.” And we remember him telling Nadia, “I’ll do it for you.” Who can’t do what for the one you love? Paris and Helen caused the Trojan War, ain’t they?
Nadia is already getting jealous of Samy, especially after a caller to the radio station tells them how she could have Sammy anytime if he asked her. The station volunteers, and gives the caller, his number, and of course, her picture is on the website. That is enough for Nadia. Out of jealousy, she slams her radio set against the wall. There’s is a threat that Samy could be wooed over by another girl. Back in the Mountain ridges, Samy and Jeff reach a place with tombs of past adventurers. Samy takes off his skull cap in reverence to those who couldn’t make it to the top. He stands solemn; the remote fear of failure and death subdues him. He sees a corpse on top of heads passed by when he was eating. He lost appetite. He is thinking of his own possible demise.
He wants to give up, but he won’t. Samy goes under. It must be the reception. The radio stations, his sponsors, and even Samy’s mother are crying for her baby. No one knows where he is. “I hope you are proud of yourself!” Samy’s mother barges in at Nadia’s store and attacks her. There are exchanges like, “Why did you send him away? What have you done to my son? Oh, you sent him to the mountain to be killed?” She causes a ruckus. With her face, as in a trance, all the poor girl Nadia could blurt out is: “Mama, cool down.”
At a point, on the trail, Samy and Jeff see an old wrecked helicopter. Jeff leaves Samy as he is lost in thought about those adventurers who perished in the aircraft. Jeff is gone, leaving Samy behind. The most terrifying scene here is when Samy turns and faces the Mountain; its grey and chalky tops way into the distance, clothed in a haze of icy vapor. You can hear the terror in the echo of his voice when he yells out, “Jeff-eff-eff!” Scary.
He reaches a point in this wilderness when he’s about to give up. “I want a reliable guy.” The voice of Nadia echos to him. “You’ll see I’m no loser. And I care about you.” Then the voice-over of his father: “Try to make it all the way this time.” And the laughter of the sponsors of his folly back home propels him to trudge on. He trudges until he opens his eyes on the base camp. And he is heralded by everyone in the tent.
At the base camp, Samy breaks the silence. He calls back home, and the radio puts him on air. It is sensational. Samy is still alive and kicking, and he is at 17,000 feet high now. Unbelievable in the home country. Not even Nadia could believe Samy could pull such feats in life. Samy is walking across a two hundred feet high precipice and on a skimpy-foot bridge. A slip, as he did once, will be the end of him. The technical aspect of this film undetected by most viewers is that since the film is about mountain, and climbing mountain, shots either in Asia or France are from an elevated point of view. I believe my fear of heights got me to notice the aspect.
I have shared too much of the story with you. Take it from here on. Johnny Lee is a sidekick to this gruesome tale of self-inflicted punishment for the sake of love. The romance novel Samy’s mother had given him helps bridge his relationship with Johnny as he reads it to him in his tent. The plot of the story Samy reads has a plotline similar to the enterprise at hand. When Samy reaches 26,000 feet and beamed it back to France, the news hits home like a wildfire. In the coffee shops, in nightclubs, on the streets among proud drug-slingers, and in offices. Everyone is exhilarated. You can feel the vibe of excitement. The French bars and nightclubs are enlivened, people, especially the deracinated Africans in France, toast to a brother and a son, for making such a daring feat.
One thing about fame. Everybody wants to be your family. Samy’s French teacher in high school has a news conference. “I always knew he had something in him.”
His friends who had given him a ride to the station are now proud of the favor for a celebrity: “We took him to the station.” The youths on the streets are sensitized by Samy’s dare: “If Sammy can do it, we will too. (To the government). “Give us a job, and let us prove ourselves!”
When Samy takes his first stride on Everest’s face, the movie’s last scene compares to the moon’s walk-in Appollo 11. Beautifully staged. The camera, itself happy, moving three hundred and sixty degrees around the subject, taking in the beautiful but terrifying expanse of glaciers, 29,029 feet below him. Great shots. Everyone in France is glued to the radio set. There are joy and celebration in the air. Samy beams back his pictures home upon his landing at the top of Everest. In the town and country, the ‘count-down,’ to Samy’s stepping on the surface of Everest live video is displayed to viewers. The jubilation in his household, the chanting of, “Samy! Samy! Samy!” is sweet music to the ear of one who sweats at the brow for success.
When Samy and Nadia meet again for the first time after the adventure, he demands from Nadia:
“You owe me a kiss.”
“Don’t you want us to make the baby first?”
It all comes back to us in the morale of the story. This is Samy’s life experience in this adage. “Women are like mountains. You have to be worthy of them.”
Note: Before I could post this review to the public, Netflix asks me how I feel about The Climb. “Either way, let us know,” seemingly eager. Simple, “we are still climbing the glaciers of life!“