Mount Meru is a Himalayan peak, home to many climbing routes legendary amongst climbers. "Meru" is the story of Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk, three climbers climbing the Shark's Fin, Mount Meru's most difficult route, parts of which are sheer rock and ice. The trio plans, climbs, fails, plans, climbs and eventually surmounts the mountain. It sounds like a classic sports movie; what sets "Meru" apart is that it is also a profound portrait of humanity, intimacy and grace in the face of nature's majesty.
Directed by Chin and his wife, Chai Vasarhelyi, "Meru" puts the audience up close and personal with the trio of seasoned climbers as they scale Meru. We watch them in their element, hanging from sheer cliff faces miles above the ground and helping each other climb, at times trapped in their tiny, dangling tent during a snowstorm that grounds them for days. Chin is a photographer by profession, with photos published in National Geographic and other periodicals, and his cinematography gives "Meru" a truly epic feel. There are many moments where you think to yourself, "I would never do that," while the climbers on screen do it with zero hesitation.
Climbing is a sport passed from mentor to apprentice, generation to generation, and these relationships are the heart of "Meru." Chin apprenticed with Conrad Anker, a climbing legend who, among other things, discovered the frozen body of one of the first men to attempt Everest. Anker was a celebrity climber in the 1980s who trained under Terrence "Mugs" Stump, another famous climber who passed away in 1992 before he could ever climb the Shark's Fin. For Anker, whose ability to risk his life climbing has to be balanced with caring for his family at home and his physical age, completing his own mentor's final goal is as personal as it gets. Although Chin and Anker have a history, Ozturk is a newcomer to their lineage, the youngest and newest member of the family who proves his worth when an accident before the climb leaves him potentially paralyzed from the neck down.
In interviews, Chin stated he wanted to make a movie about climbing that didn't focus entirely on rote technique and spectacle, and "Meru" succeeds in grand fashion. Footage of the climbs are interspersed with interviews featuring the climbers, their families and experts on the sport (including renowned writer / climber John Krakauer). "Meru" requires no investment in climbing for audiences walking in; it fills you in on everything you need to know about the sport. The only preparation an audience needs for "Meru" is the willingness to be swept away by very human men surmounting incredible odds just to say they did it.