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Review: The Mountain (1956)
There's a funny story behind this movie.
I was talking to my parents and my mom said that when she was a kid, she used to go to the movie theatres to watch cartoons. One time instead of playing cartoons, they played a movie. She recounted the major events of the movie, including a pair of brothers going up a mountain and then getting stuck at a bridge, etc. Based on that information I did a very rambly Google search and found out that the movie was The Mountain.
Keep in mind that my mother did not know English when she was a kid, so she had watched the entire movie not understanding any of the dialogue. So as I watched the movie, I tried to imagine what it would be like if I was just watching the body language and situational cues.
This was an alright movie. It's very straightforward and accessible. It's like, barely problematic, except maybe Anna Kashfi playing the Hindu woman. But I think I could recommend this movie to most people as something chill to watch, or even a movie you can put on while doing other stuff.
Spoilers, though the movie is pretty straightforward.
Story
The story is of two brothers climbing a mountain. The elder, Zachary, was an experienced climber, but he'd run into a number of accidents and as an older man, he was rather wary and nervous about climbing the mountain again. His younger brother, Chris, was eager to get rich quick and to get out of their town.
A plan had crashed in the mountains, and Chris was determined to climb the mountain and rob the people there of riches. Zachary was reluctant to do so, but he wasn't going to abandon his brother and so he went up the mountain.
Atop the mountain, the brothers stumbled upon a woman who was still alive. Zachary was determined to bring her down and get her medical attention. The brothers got into a fight over that and Zachary left with the woman and without Chris. Chris followed along in a rush, but he panicked, and took a dangerous route and fell to his death.
After returning to his village, Zachary tried to tell his neighbours that he was the one who wanted to rob the plane, trying to take all of the blame, but nobody believed him.
Production
I kind of admire older films for having that slower pace. This movie had a very focused story, and a lot of time was spent just watching the brothers try to climb the mountain, and yet I didn't feel bored. In fact, I was very invested in the minute details of how they were going to get across certain obstacles in the mountains.
The acting was fine. There wasn't any serious dialogue, but I think the actors were able to communicate the essence of their characters well.
I just kind of went yikes at the actress who played the Hindu woman. I looked her up and found out she was played by Anna Kashfi, who was kind of famous for posing as a South Asian woman despite being completely of Western ancestry.
Characters
Zachary Teller
Zachary was the good brother, the one who wanted to live a simple life as a humble sheep herder, and the one who took his failures climbing the mountain as a warning. He felt that the mountain was communicating a message to him, that it was time to stop.
Anyway, he only went up the mountain because he had no choice but to protect Chris. He condemned his brother's looting of the plane and when they found the woman, he cared more for saving her than being discovered robbing the plan.
Zachary was the textbook morally upright protagonist.
Chris Teller
The thing about Chris was that he was one-dimensional, but at least he was consistent lol. If he'd fallen in love with the surviving woman on the plan I would've rolled my eyes. But his eyes were always on the gold and riches and that remained the case until the end.
He basically served as a lesson to not be greedy.
Overall
This was a simple and straightforward movie, but I still found it enjoyable. I was not bored at all, and it was very easy to follow.
I was talking to my parents and my mom said that when she was a kid, she used to go to the movie theatres to watch cartoons. One time instead of playing cartoons, they played a movie. She recounted the major events of the movie, including a pair of brothers going up a mountain and then getting stuck at a bridge, etc. Based on that information I did a very rambly Google search and found out that the movie was The Mountain.
Keep in mind that my mother did not know English when she was a kid, so she had watched the entire movie not understanding any of the dialogue. So as I watched the movie, I tried to imagine what it would be like if I was just watching the body language and situational cues.
This was an alright movie. It's very straightforward and accessible. It's like, barely problematic, except maybe Anna Kashfi playing the Hindu woman. But I think I could recommend this movie to most people as something chill to watch, or even a movie you can put on while doing other stuff.
Spoilers, though the movie is pretty straightforward.
Story
The story is of two brothers climbing a mountain. The elder, Zachary, was an experienced climber, but he'd run into a number of accidents and as an older man, he was rather wary and nervous about climbing the mountain again. His younger brother, Chris, was eager to get rich quick and to get out of their town.
A plan had crashed in the mountains, and Chris was determined to climb the mountain and rob the people there of riches. Zachary was reluctant to do so, but he wasn't going to abandon his brother and so he went up the mountain.
Atop the mountain, the brothers stumbled upon a woman who was still alive. Zachary was determined to bring her down and get her medical attention. The brothers got into a fight over that and Zachary left with the woman and without Chris. Chris followed along in a rush, but he panicked, and took a dangerous route and fell to his death.
After returning to his village, Zachary tried to tell his neighbours that he was the one who wanted to rob the plane, trying to take all of the blame, but nobody believed him.
Production
I kind of admire older films for having that slower pace. This movie had a very focused story, and a lot of time was spent just watching the brothers try to climb the mountain, and yet I didn't feel bored. In fact, I was very invested in the minute details of how they were going to get across certain obstacles in the mountains.
The acting was fine. There wasn't any serious dialogue, but I think the actors were able to communicate the essence of their characters well.
I just kind of went yikes at the actress who played the Hindu woman. I looked her up and found out she was played by Anna Kashfi, who was kind of famous for posing as a South Asian woman despite being completely of Western ancestry.
Characters
Zachary Teller
Zachary was the good brother, the one who wanted to live a simple life as a humble sheep herder, and the one who took his failures climbing the mountain as a warning. He felt that the mountain was communicating a message to him, that it was time to stop.
Anyway, he only went up the mountain because he had no choice but to protect Chris. He condemned his brother's looting of the plane and when they found the woman, he cared more for saving her than being discovered robbing the plan.
Zachary was the textbook morally upright protagonist.
Chris Teller
The thing about Chris was that he was one-dimensional, but at least he was consistent lol. If he'd fallen in love with the surviving woman on the plan I would've rolled my eyes. But his eyes were always on the gold and riches and that remained the case until the end.
He basically served as a lesson to not be greedy.
Overall
This was a simple and straightforward movie, but I still found it enjoyable. I was not bored at all, and it was very easy to follow.