-By Daniel Eagan

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Based on a true story, North Face recreates with uncanny realism a 1936 expedition up the Eiger Mountain in Switzerland. Director Philipp Stölzl and his crew don't just capture the period clothes and equipment, they place the viewer right on the Eiger itself, struggling for handholds on precipitous cliffs as winds howl and the depths below yawn with terrifying clarity. Mountain climbing has rarely looked this exciting or dangerous onscreen. With a better plot, the film could have been an unbeatable adventure, and as it stands, North Face has moments of unbearable tension. But after a sunny first hour, it turns relentlessly downbeat.

In the 1930s, finding a route up the North Face—"the last great problem of the Alps"—was seen as a patriotic duty, pitting mountaineers in a race to the summit that was documented by journalists from around the world. Berlin writer Henry Arau (Ulrich Tukur) settles into a luxury hotel at the foot of the Eiger to cover the event. He's accompanied by aspiring photographer Luise Fellner (Johanna Wokalek), a mountaineering buff who grew up following the exploits of climbers.

In fact, Luise knows two of the best, Toni Kurz (Benno Fürmann) and Andi Hinterstoisser (Florian Lukas), pals from Berchtesgaden who drop out of the army to climb the North Face. Berchtesgaden is where Hitler built his mountain retreat, and Nazism—with its belief that Aryans could conquer anything—is an important subtext to the film. Stölzl also takes pains to contrast the hard lives of the climbers with the luxuries enjoyed by their onlookers. These constitute the least interesting passages in the film, even though they are graced with fascinating period touches.

The heart of North Face is its climbing, and it's shown in heart-stopping detail. A seamless combination of location footage with special effects and studio material, these sequences offer textbook examples of everything that can go right, and wrong, with mountain climbing. Fürmann and Lukas not only have the physical looks for their parts, they convey the almost mystical compulsions that overtake true climbers. In fact, all four leads inhabit their roles to remarkable degrees, with Tukur ( The Lives of Others) especially engaging.

Stölzl's background in opera (as well as music-videos and commercials) may account for some drawn-out emotional turmoil towards the end of the picture. He and the other screenwriters also altered the historical record, especially with the rescue attempts, in order to score dramatic points. The outcome of the climb remains intact. As a result, North Face will disabuse all but the most foolhardy about attempting mountain climbing themselves.