North Face

The Chronic Critic is no adventurer herself. Far from it. But, she does like to read about and watch other people risk their lives in pursuit of a dream.

If the risk-taking adventurers on screen -- rock climbers in the case of the movie, North Face -- are smokin' hot Germans, so much the better.

It's 1936, and two best buddies are out to be the first men to climb The Eiger, a 13,000-foot peak in the Alps. Their childhood best friend, a fetching lass now fetching coffee for her newspaper editors, is a budding photojournalist who wants to be there to capture on film their moment of triumph.

Oh, she's also in love with the hottest of the climbers (Benno Furmann), as he is with her.

But, the love story plays second fiddle to story about man vs. nature. It's a matter of national pride for the two Germans to conquer the mountain. The media are camped out at a luxury hotel at the base of the mountain to cover either the triumph (which seems less and less likely as conditions worsen) or tragedy. Throw into this mix two Austrian climbers on the mountain at the same time and with the same goal and a nasty storm (and lost glove), and you've got yourself an icy, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride.

That this movie is based on a true story makes it all the more riveting. See it.