Movie review: ‘Meru’ takes audience on the climb of their lives

The documentary "Meru" goes to two places most people will never venture: on one of the most treacherous climbs in the Himalayas and into the minds of three men adventurous enough — or crazy enough — to try.

Meru is actually three peaks on the same mountain in India's Gharwal Himalayas. The central peak is the shortest, at 20,702 feet, but one of the approaches up to the summit — called the Shark's Fin — is considered one of the toughest in the world.

The Shark's Fin, the documentary tells us, long has been a dream climb for Conrad Anker, the American climber and writer. The route was the impossible dream vaunted by his mentor, Terrance "Mugs" Stump, up until Stump's death on Denali in Alaska in 1992.

Anker enlisted his frequent climbing partner, Jimmy Chin, to attempt the Meru climb. He also picked a newer climber, Renan Ozturk, to complete the team. Both men are also artists: Ozturk is a landscape artist and filmmaker, while Chin is a photographer for National Geographic, Outside and Men's Journal — and (not coincidentally) co-directed this movie with his wife, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.

Equipped with GoPros, Chin and Ozturk act as cinematographers up the side of Meru. Together, they capture the grueling work of climbing an almost-vertical rock face, as well as the equally tough work of setting up the portaledge — essentially, a small tent clinging like a barnacle to the side of the mountain. Needless to say, this is a movie that works best on as large a screen as you can find.

Back at lower altitudes, Chin and Vasarhelyi interweave archival material with sit-down interviews to trace the journey of these three men leading to Meru. In all three backstories, there are setbacks and personal tragedies — particularly with Anker, who lost not only Stump but his longtime climbing partner Alex Lowe (who died in 1999 in an avalanche in Tibet, an avalanche Anker barely survived).

Mountain climbers are fairly reticent as interview subjects, it turns out. The movie enlists author Jon Krakauer ("Into Thin Air") as in-house explainer of the climber's mindset. Krakauer's observations are often poignant, but there are times when one wishes he would just shut up and let the thrill of the climbing speak for itself.

The accomplishment of "Meru," the movie, is how Chin and Vasarhelyi both show and tell. The interviews tell us what the climbers are feeling, but it's the footage — those moments of breathtaking beauty and heart-stopping danger — that shows us what truly motivates them.

spmeans@sltrib.com

Twitter: @moviecricket

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'Meru'

A heart-stopping documentary that goes along with climbers on one of the Himalayas' most challenging ascents.

Where • Broadway Centre Cinemas, Salt Lake City; Megaplex Jordan Commons, Sandy.

When • Opens Friday, Aug. 28.

Rating • R for language.

Running time • 87 minutes.