Tenzing - Mr Amazing

Written by Murray Crane

Every New Zealander knows the photograph. A man on the summit of Everest, ice axe raised. Most of us grew up assuming it was Hillary. It wasn’t. It was Tenzing Norgay. Hillary took the picture.

Jennifer Peedom’s Tenzing finally turns the camera around.

As a boy, Tenzing meets George Mallory weeks before Mallory vanishes on the mountain. By 1953 Tenzing is a seasoned climber and an outsider among the Sherpas. He joins John Hunt’s expedition on one condition: he climbs as a full member of the party.

Genden Phuntsok carries the film. His performance is still and certain. Tom Hiddleston and Willem Dafoe know whose film this is and stay out of the way. Much of it is in Tenzing’s own language, which is the right call.

Peedom made her name with the documentary Sherpa, and it shows. The light is cold, the air looks thin. The high climbing scenes were shot here in New Zealand, with our mountains standing in for the roof of the world. Hillary would have approved.

As intimately as I know the history, I watched it for the clothes. The wardrobe is excellent. Wool, layered and worn hard. Nothing styled, everything earned. These men climbed to the top of the world in tweed and knitwear, and made it look like the most natural thing on earth.

The story keeps finding its way back to us. Earlier this year Alex Hillary wrote for the Dispatch about Nepal and the Arctic, with a Crane Brothers tuxedo packed between the down parkas. His point was that respect and kindness travel further than any kit. Tenzing would have agreed. Read Between Ice and Altitude

The film is respectful to a fault, and the backstory runs long. Some stories deserve to be told gently.

Now streaming on Apple TV.

Hillary took the photograph. Peedom has finally given us the portrait.