The Eight Mountains is a visual experience about friendship, a love for mountain climbing, and the search for an identity. Directed by the Belgian couple Charlotte Vandemeersch and Felix Van Groeningen, the 2022 film is the first work they’ve co-written and co-directed, after teaming up as director and actress on several past projects. Cinematographer Ruben Impens embellishes the adaptation of Paolo Cognetti’s novel of the same name by capturing the color of the Alps in a strident contrast between ice, forest, and rock.
The movie takes its due time (147 minutes) to follow Pietro (Luca Marinelli) on his journey to manhood. In 1984, Pietro’s parents took the boy into their mountain house, where Pietro meets Bruno (later portrayed by Alessandro Borghi). The two boys couldn’t seem more different one from another. Bruno is a mountaineer, while Pietro is the classic boy coming from a big city. After some initial distrust, something clicks between them and the kids roam together over the pastures and lakes.
Pietro’s parents immediately fall in love with Bruno, this “noble savage” whom they want to bring to Turin so he can receive an education. Their decision snaps the idyllic situation between the kids, provoking Pietro’s jealousy. Bruno’s father isn’t happy with the resolution and he opts to bring his kid to work on the construction sites. Pietro never forgives his parents for that, accusing them of having sabotaged his relationship with his best friend. Years after, Pietro is a wannabe writer while Bruno is looking for a way to escape his life as a mason. The two men are brought together again after the death of Pietro’s father, who made Bruno promise to build a new cabin.
Marinelli and Borghi are arguably the best Italian actors of their generation, and this movie is a testament to it. It’s the second time Borghi and Marinelli have worked together after 2015’s Don’t Be Bad. While Marinelli already proved how heartbreaking he could be as a writer as the titular character in Martin Eden, Rome-born Borghi surprises the most by modulating his physique and voice to look and sound like a Valdostan mountaineer. Together, they have great chemistry and manage to convey to the watcher the hard work they put in to build their cabin, a metaphor for their friendship.
Even though they love the same people in different ways and at different times, the two main characters are pretty different from each other. On the one hand, Pietro is a man who hasn’t found his place in the world. To overcome his fears and unlock his full potential as a man and writer, he travels to Nepal and climbs the world’s highest mountains (the eight highest peaks from the title). In turn, the real outdoorsman Bruno seems to be so attached to his places, family, and sort of Chris McCandless-esque lifestyle, that he can’t even leave his dear Alps, forcing his family into a life they never wanted.
This movie is very concrete, and it unveils a different and peculiar side of Italy and Italian citizens. Thankfully, there is no pizza, no hints of the mafia, no lush beaches, nor people screaming their lungs off. Ultimately, The Eight Mountains is the introspective journey of a boy who needs to become a man following his father’s death, and it homages a lifestyle that will soon disappear.
Score: 7/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 7 equates to “Good.” A successful piece of entertainment that is worth checking out, but it may not appeal to everyone.
Disclosure: Critic attended a press screening for our The Eight Mountains review.
