North Face
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Metascore
67 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critics What's this?

User Score
8.2 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 6 Ratings

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0 out of 10
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  • Starring: Benno Fürmann, Florian Lukas, Johanna Wokalek
  • Summary: Based on a true story, North Face is a suspenseful adventure film about a competition to climb the most dangerous rock face in the Alps. Set in 1936, as Nazi propaganda urges the nation’s Alpinists to conquer the unclimbed north face of the Swiss massif — the Eiger — two reluctant German clian climbers begin their daring ascent. (Music Box Films)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Betsy Sharkey
    90
    This is a film done right by just about every measure. The extremes of the story seep deep into your bones -- the beauty, the allure, the desperation and especially the cold in this world where life literally hangs on rope and what Mother Nature chooses to throw at you.
  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    80
    Transfixing in the way that well-told life-and-death adventure tales inevitably are. It is the film’s more mundane elements -- an awkward, under-nourished love story and half-baked politics -- that are problematic.
  3. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    These fears explain why in its scenes on the Eiger itself, North Face starts strongly and ends as unbearably riveting. They also explain why it was a strategic error to believe this story needed romantic and political subplots.
  4. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Keith Uhlich
    60
    All the retroactively enlightened symbolism gets monotonous, and reaches an absurd apex with the introduction of a party-line newspaperman played by that scowling emblem of Teutonic depravity, Ulrich Tukur.

See all 17 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. tjh
    9
    This is a very enjoyable and gripping film. I think the criticism of the politics is silly--this is a climbing picture, and one you should see on the big screen. It won't be as good on DVD. Is it a great film? No. But, it's very enjoyable.… Expand
  2. DarthCritic
    9
    Loved it. Recommended it to my friends. Guys will like it, chicks may not. I've been rock climbing (not those fake walls at the gym) and this movie makes you realize how tough it is, especially back before WWII.… Expand
  3. MarkF
    9
    Tremendously engrossing drama and from the first I "thought I was there" inside the movie. Critics may have lots of complaints but this movie was wonderfully real and believable to me. I recommend it completely.… Expand

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