Kilimanjaro - To the Roof of Africa (Large Format)
by David Breashears
List Price:
Our Price: $1.88
You Save: $18.11 (91%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Audrey Salkeld, Hansi Mmari, Heidi Albertsen, Nicole Wineland-Thomson, Roger BilhamDirector: David Breashears
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); French (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Surround Sound
Picture Format: IMAX, 1.33:1
Running Time: 70 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-10-08
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: SlingShot
DVD Reviews of Kilimanjaro - To the Roof of Africa (Large Format)
DVD Review: Needs some straight-talk on Western Breach
Summary: 5 Stars
I came across this DVD a couple months before leaving for Kilimanjaro and enjoyed it much. If you are going to climb the mountain via the Western Breach route, purchase is a no-brainer.
It, along with a Nova documentary that appeared about the same time, seems to have contributed to an explosion of thousands of Americans climbing Kilimanjaro in the last 3 years. Said one porter-aid worker I met in in Moshi, "Americans used to be rare in Tanzania, but in the last 2-3 years, they are suddenly common ...". Everyone I met seemed to have viewed or been prompted to go by these two videos.
The film is definately IMAX-ie; beautiful photography, nice swelling music, numerous scenes of herds of animals fleeing in terror along the plains of Africa as the camera swoops down from an airplane overhead. You get the idea.
The narrator (mountain guide Jacob Kyungai) intones that climbers of Kilimanjaro are "ordinary people people, mostly", then goes on to introduce a Gilligan's Island cast of climbers, picked to reflect (or engage) the folk who might go to the science museum IMAX theater on a Saturday afternoon -- as compared to those who actually climb Kili.
You have The Professor (Roger Bilham, an expert volcanologist), Ginger/Mary-Ann (Heidi Albertsen, identified on the DVD only as "Trekker: Denmark", but in reality a New York super-model you have probably seen more often on the cover of women's magazines at your grocery store check-out line), a couple of precocious 12-going-on-25 year old kids (self-possessed and well-behaved, every Yuppie parent's dream-child), a writer (Audrey Salkeld), and Rick Thomson, who barely made it out of the editing room, but is the father of the 12 year old girl (and was in a bad car accident shortly before the climb and had a pin in his hip, etc.)
Basically, the film shows a sort of idealized climb. This is not a movie about man against nature, or pushing the limits of human endurance. It's about a beautiful, diverse mountain and some "ordinary" (*cough*) people who went to the top.
Bottom line: if you are going to experience a Kilimanjaro climb, it's hard to beat tagging along with an expert volcanologist and a super-model.
The DVD contains a "Making of" feature that is of even more interest to prospective climbers than the main film. Behind-the-scenes shots of the logistics and events provides context to the apparent effortless serenity of the main feature.
The problem with the film is this: having climbed Kilimanjaro (via Lemosho - Shira -Western Breach route), the depiction of the Western Breach is disturbingly glossy. This problem is not unique to this film; it exists in the Nova documentary and virtually all text and sales-pitches advocating the Western Breach. Basically, the pitch is that the Western Breach route is "non-technical" and suitable for anyone in good physical condition who is capable of hiking for 6-8 hours a day.
The reality is there are at least 4 spots where you will find yourself clinging to an ice-covered rock, searching for slight finger & toe-hold indentations as you skitter 20-30 feet sideways. Miss a finger or toe, have a balance problem, or slip more than one hold, and you will fall 1000 feet to the rocks below. And aside from those 4 sections, a misstep or slip on any of the rest of the breach also means falling hundreds of feet. And keep in mind you are likely wearing a 20+ pound pack with several pounds of water. Basically, anything is "non-technical" if you don't use safety equipment.
The Western Breach is precarious and dangerous. In the film, they show the cast clambering over refrigerator-sized, step-like blocks of stone. This amounts to at most 15% of the climb. The rest is not really shown, probably because it is too precarious to get footage of. A parent allowing a 13-year old on this route is inconceivable to me, unless ropes and support equipment were used to assist.
While clinging to ice-covered rocks and seeing nothing but air beneath my feet, my initial reaction was anger at the public-relations puff-job in this movie and other sources. This was quickly subsumed by the desire to simply stay alive, repeated a couple dozen times that day.
While this movie might lead people in good shape, used to jogging around the park or hiking the local hills, into thinking it's no big deal to climb Kilimanjaro via WB ("hey, a couple 13 year olds did it"), the reality is inexplicably different than the PR. You have been warned.
By the way, if you read the companion book to this film, there is a note at the end that mentions that a few months after filming, the cast and crew was reassembled and climbed Kilimanjaro AGAIN (a 2nd time) to obtain more shots.
Bestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Kilimanjaro 1:62,500 Trekking Mapby ITM Canada
International Travel Maps; ITMB Publishing, Ltd.; Published: 2006-10-01; Map; Book
Best price: $7.94
Price in other shops:
Making the Climb: What a Novice Climber Learned About Life on Mount Kilimanjaroby John C. Bowling
Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City; Published: 2007-06-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
Climbing Mount Kilimanjaroby Stephen Carmichael, Susan Stoddard, Rick Ridgeway, Neville Shulman, Robert M. Moore
Medi-ed Pr; Published: 2002-09-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.49
Price in other shops:
Kilimanjaro: A Photographic Journey to the Roof of Africaby Michel Moushabeck
Interlink Pub Group; Published: 2009-07-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops:
Kissing Kilimanjaro: Leaving It All on Top of Africaby Daniel Dorr
Mountaineers Books; Published: 2010-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.64
Price in other shops:
Nova - Volcano Above the Clouds: Kilimanjaro, Africa's Tallest MountainWgbh Wholesale; Release date: 2004-02-24; DVD
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
Kilimanjaro: A Photographic Journey to the Roof of Africaby Michel Moushabeck
Interlink Pub Group; Published: 2009-07-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.40
Price in other shops:
Altitude Illness: Prevention & Treatment (Mountaineers Outdoor Expert)by Stephen Bezruchka
Mountaineers Books; Published: 2005-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.91
Price in other shops:
Kilimanjaro: A Trekker's Guide (Cicerone Mountain Walking S.)by Alex Stewart
Cicerone Press Limited; Published: 2010-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.31
Price in other shops:
Kilimanjaro - a trekking guide to Africa's highest mountain, 3rd: (includes Mt Meru and city guides to Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Moshi and Marangu)by Henry Stedman
Trailblazer Publications; Published: 2010-03-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.24
Price in other shops: