Throughout, the suspense is hardly bearable. “North Face” is a thriller, no mistake about it and only the most unemotional viewer will not identify with the climbers. The contrast between the scenes showing the four men in their ferocious determination to make it to the top despite nature on a rampage and the leisurely crowd at the hotel couldn’t be harsher. Every time we think that our fingers, blackened by the terrible cold, are about to fall off, we’re allowed to catch our breath in these opulent rooms, in front of a large fireplace, with well-trained waiters pouring wine, carving roasts and cutting cake and a pianist playing the latest popular songs.
