A Symphony of Summits: The Alps from Above (2013) User Reviews

Worth seeing on the big screen

[IndustriousAngel · 7/10 · 5 October 2013]

There's quite a few documentaries about mountains - this stands out in that it consists nearly exclusively of aerial images (the only exception are a few seconds of time-lapse video which were shot from fixed cams). While that's a unique feature, it's also a bit of a constraint because there's some scenes where a simple ground camera would have served better. Also, for the few scientific explanations on mountain formation and glaciers, or for the WW1 history part, some illustrative videos or historical documents would have been a valuable addition.

Otherwise, it's a really beautiful documentary, not shying away from the "dark" commercial face of the alps (mass-tourism, hydro-power) but very conscious of the aesthetic power not only of raw nature, but of technology, too. It's definitely worth to be experienced on a big screen!

The "scientific" value of this doc is very low-key, and the comments sparse. It works on a purely visual level, which is completely OK with me - for deeper information, watch the DVD series or read a book.

You get what you came for

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 22 September 2013]

This is the newest nature documentary film by Peter Bardehle and Sebastian Lindemann. Lindemann already worked on TV documentary episodes depicting the river Rhine from above and I've seen Bardehle's recent cinematography works for helicopter flights and recordings above the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. I remember very well that the documentary on the Baltic Sea featured a narrator who used typical dialect from the area the film was about, which was occasionally entertaining, but more annoying in the long run because it really was only cute for the first ten minutes max and eventually distracted considerable attention from the movie.

So the good news is that this one here has a narrator speaking German without any kind of dialect. Apart from that, the film pretty much covered most of the important aspects related to the Alps. We get informed about flora and fauna, about recent developments in terms of geology, ecology and economy, about historical significance, for example which role the mountains played during World War I or also during King Louis II's reign. While the shots and camera work were decent from start to finish, there was nothing really about this film that raised it above the level of other nature documentaries on the matter, some even on television. Still, watching the film at the big screen definitely made it more memorable.

My favorite scene was the one with the falcon camera. Seeing the view from the bird's perspective was mesmerizing. What really did not interest me at all were the different kinds of extreme sports displayed. But that's just a personal opinion. Unfortunately these sections of people climbing, skiing etc. went on for quite a couple sequences and I personally would have preferred to see more about the majestic alpine ibexes for example. If more of these scenes had been included, I believe the film would have been more appealing for children as well. In any case, it's another decent documentary and if you're more the mountain than the beach type, this one deserves a chance.

Stunningly flawless visuals with a good commentary.

[TxMike · 13 April 2015]

I am one of those who knows very little about the Alps. I actually passed through part of them a few years back on a train from Milan, Italy to Lyon, France. However we passed through a number of tunnels and missed much of the magnificence of the Alps.

The film starts with a wintertime fly-over showing the high rugged peaks with the statement "Once upon a time there were two tectonic plates that got in each-others' way, when they clashed a new world close to the sky appeared."

The 90-minute film roughly covers winter, summer, and fall in the Alps. We see farmers, tourist destinations, rivers and waterfalls, roads and bridges, outdoors explorers, and wildlife. Most of it from above using a helicopter to view the magnificent expanses of peaks and valleys and lakes. It really is a broad survey of the Alps and life in the Alps, just perfect for someone like me to just understand the breadth of it.

The picture and sound are both first-rate, I saw it on Netflix streaming movies and the occasional bass in the soundtrack rattled my windows.

I highly recommend it for anyone interesting in the subject.

A documentary movie without a soul

[piterkluz · 1/10 · 12 June 2021]

It's probably one of the most uninspiring and annoying movies about mountains i've ever watched. It completely doesn't focus on the aesthetic and religious part of mountain exploration. It sticks to technology, economy and even indirectly praises the destruction of the environment. After watching this movie, i feel like the entirety of the mountain range should be protected as a national park, so people stop doing harmful and damaging things to one of the most beautiful regions in entire Europe.