The Mountain Between Us

26 November 2018

Updated 3 August 2020

The Mountain Between Us 2017

• Director: Hany Abu-Assad  
• Based on a novel by Charles Martin
• Cast: Idris Elba, Kate Winslet, Beau Bridges, Dermot Mulroney, Linda Sorensen
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Idris Elba – The Dark Tower, Molly’s Game, 100 Streets, Pacific Rim, (all since the first time we saw this film) Prometheus, Thor, 28 Weeks Later, The Wire, Crocodile Shoes, Absolutely Fabulous
• Kate Winslet – Contagion, The Reader, The Holiday, Little Children, Romance and Cigarette, Extras, Finding Neverland, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Hideous Kinky, Titanic, Hamlet, Jude, Sense and Sensibility
• Beau Bridges – Out of the Ashes, The Fantastic Baker Boys, Norma Rae, The Fugitive
• Dermot Mulrony – August Osage County, Burn After Reading, Gracie, Zodiac, Undertow, My Best Friend’s Wedding
• Why? Idris Elba and Winslet isn’t bad either
• Seen: 24 November 2018 and now again 2 August 2020      

       Ben (Elba) is a neurosurgeon who needs to get to a ten-year-old patient. Photo journalist Alex (Winslet) is scheduled to get married tomorrow. Their flight is cancelled, all flights are cancelled. There is a storm coming. They hire a two-passenger plane and pilot (Bridges).

       The pilot has a stroke.

       To make a short intro shorter…they crash. In the mountains. Snow. Cold. Unchartered flight. No telephone signal. No one knows where they are.

       I should not be watching this. It’s mountains. High places. I hate high places. I hate edges of cliffs.

       Ben and Alex disagree. Stay and wait for rescue? Or try to make it down the mountain?

       You know, it’s not easy to start a fire. And where did the parkas and hats and mitts and several different pairs of trousers come from? And why does there have to be a dog? The film is not entirely believable.

       But it’s Elba and Winslet and they make it work. It’s emotionally powerful and the scenery is sensational.

4 * of 5

Update 3 August 2020: After having just read the book I wanted to see the film again though it hasn’t been so long since we saw it. As I thought – the film is ever so much better than the book. Still 4*.