A rousing and gorgeous adventure biopic.
Tenzing Norgay was a Nepalese-Indian Sherpa mountaineer, who along with New Zealand native Edmund Hilary were the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest during the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition. This was the ninth expedition to attempt the first ascent of the mountain, and given the cold temperature and oxygen levels, it would take a miracle to scale it. The new AppleTV movie “Tenzing” is not only inspired by that adventurer and his dream, but also works as an adventure movie with less cliches and more development, patience, and gorgeous images by Stefan Duscio (“The Invisible Man,” “The Dry”) and director Jennifer Peedom (“Solo,” “Sherpa”). And it was filmed in Kathmandu and the Everett region.
The biopic takes us to 1950s to see Tenzing (Genden Phuntsok) as a widowed father with a daughter to take care of and a new job opportunity. The kind he needs to think over but inspired by his little girl to try. He is enlisted by British Army officer John Hunt (Willem Dafoe) to aid with the expedition to Mount Everest, a dream he has been longing for. So, he must make the journey.
We see flashbacks of Tenzing’s childhood in the 1920s (Samdrup Dorje Lama plays the 9-year-old Tenzing, while Tenzing Dalha plays him in his teens and 20s), when he comes from a poor family, but has a rich passion for mountains. Especially Mount Everest, which was known to Sherpas as Chomolungma, and which he considers to be a character in his life. And especially when the movie likes to think he met George Mallory (Johnny Flynn) before he disappeared on Everett’s Northeast Ridge. He is left by his family and works as Sherpa for many years. During his time, he falls in love with his future deceased wife Dawa (first played by Choeden Sherpa and finally, by Thinley Lhamo), whose father disapproves of their romance, because he is considered to be an outsider and his dream of scaling Mount Everett is crazy. But he loves Dawa, and he’s not giving up on his mountain climbing dream.
Among the men he travels with-a portion of them are Nepalese too-he befriends Edmund Hilary (Tom Hiddleston). He’s the kind who admires Tenzing’s optimism and never is cocky about his own. And they both connect well with each other.
“Tenzing” marks the first time I have heard of Genden Phuntsok’s name. His previous acting roles include “Snow Leopard” and “Jinpa,” and in this movie, he’s a revelation. He delivers with the right emotions, dialogue, and language (he’s Tibetan), and he represents the mountaineer and his dreams. We don’t get basis out of any of the women in the film, including Caitríona Balfe (soon to be seen in “Sense and Sensibility”) as the expedition coordinator, but we do get some impressive supporting work from Hiddleston and Dafoe. They both play their characters with vibrant charms and perseverance, and they refuse to succumb to no clichés. Not even exploit themselves for commercialism, because they’re more well known than Phuntsok.
Written by Peedom and Luke Davies (“Lion,” “News of the World”), who were both inspired by Ed Douglas’ book “Tenzing: Hero of Everett,” Mount Everett can be identified as a character, because of the way the mountain inspires the real-life mountaineer, and other the people who climb it. It can also be an emotional journey for Tenzing, as well as a dangerous, freezing, and riveting one. And the movie relates to that notion, as well as entertain us. Better stay warm on this journey, because it’s going to be cold.
Now Playing in Select Theaters
Streaming on AppleTV Next Week