The Himalayas (film)

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The Himalayas is a 2015 South Korean adventure drama directed by Lee Seok-hoon. It stars Hwang Jung-min, Jung Woo, Jo Sung-ha, Kim In-kwon, Ra Mi-ran, Kim Won-hae and others. The film is inspired by the real-life mountaineer Um Hong-gil and follows his experiences guiding climbers who face tragedy on the mountains.

Plot
On Kangchenjunga, Um Hong-gil saves two climbers, Park Moo-taek and Park Jeong-bok. Years later, after initially turning down new recruits, he agrees to lead a new team of climbers. During their missions, Moo-taek dies along with another climber, and a searcher who comes looking for them dies crying beside Moo-taek. At an anniversary lecture, Um says Moo-taek’s friend was the best climber he ever knew, and he decides to reunite his old crew to find Moo-taek’s body. They locate the body, honor him by removing a neck chain containing a message for Moo-taek’s wife, and continue climbing. Despite his bad legs, Um presses on, feeling that Moo-taek is his legs and the others who died are his lungs and heart. The expedition then heads back to the Himalayas to search for Moo-taek’s remains.

Cast
- Hwang Jung-min
- Jung Woo
- Jo Sung-ha
- Kim In-kwon
- Ra Mi-ran
- Kim Won-hae
- Lee Hae-yeong
- Jeon Bae-soo

Release and reception
The Himalayas was released on December 16, 2015, with a runtime of 124 minutes. It is a Korean-language film (with some English and Mandarin). The film grossed about US$50.5 million worldwide. It received mixed reviews; The Hollywood Reporter described it as a tepidly paced adventure tale.