SYNOPSIS
On August 12, 1985, Japan Airlines Flight 123, which departed
from Haneda and was enroute to Osaka crashed into the ridge of Mt
Takamagahara, on Osutaka Ridge in Gunma Prefecture.
524 passengers turned to 4 survivors and 520 fatalities, making the
accident the biggest single-plane accident in the world. The local
press reporters are tossed about by the waves of facts and
rumors.
A roving reporter working for North Kanto newspaper name
Kazumasa Yuki (starring Shinichi Tsutsumi) was preparing to climb
Mt. Tanigawa with a colleague when the news of the crash got
out.
In the ensuing excitement and chaos in the newsroom, Yuuki is
given the go-ahead to cover the story and receives tremendous
pressure to beat out competing news organizations to the first with
the scoop.
While overwhelmed by the magnitude of the accident, Yuki now
faces a string of decision-making moments. The movie vividly
portrays Yuki’s struggles to cover the event under extreme
pressures with confusion in the newsroom, stressed and angry
reporters, and conflicts between the company's various
departments.
[b]Not to be mistaken for a typical disaster flick, “Climber’s
High” takes a more respectful approach, and much of the films
centers around Yuuki’s difficulty balancing his duty as a reporter
against the backdrop of such a staggering human tragedy and the
subsequent conflicts with colleagues as he tries to deal with the
event in the most journalistically responsible way possible.
[/b]
Based on Hideo Yokoyama's best-selling novel, the film looks at
the impact the country's worst airplane disaster had on a local
newspaper as shock, excitement and chaos swirled around. What are
news and a reporter? How should a man do his work and survive
in a corporate hierarchy? What do family and friends mean to him?
“Climber’s High” is an intriguing story that will keepsthe audience
on the edge of tension and reality.
Official Website and Trailer
http://www.festivefilms.com/climbershigh/
