My Everest

It’s a staple item on daytime news and chat shows, a frequent double page feature in women’s magazines: disabled person does something spectacular. Everybody gets to clap and cheer and reassure themselves that success is all about positive thinking. Max Stainton-Parfitt has cerebral palsy. He plans to ride a pony to Base Camp on Mount Everest. But Max’s story is a little different. Willpower and self-belief will only get you so far when you’re up against a mountain.

Carl Woods’ documentary begins by seeming to embrace the conventional narrative and ends by turning it on its head. It’s bookended by lengthy to-camera musings from Max, first establishing his position and then articulating how it has changed. Each of these also offers us an insight into what’s going on in his personal life. In the first, we see footage from his early childhood, demonstrating a joyous physicality which he never seem to have lost, in spite of bumps and bruises. We learn about his love of horse riding, which gives him the opportunity to engage in physical exercise despite his inability to walk without two people supporting him, and we learn how, through it, he met his partner, Candy.

Candy is devoted to Max, and it’s touching to see how much she worries about him when they’re briefly apart. Before she was around, the film later reveals, his mother took charge of everything for him, fighting to make sure that he had good support and opportunities. As a result, he hasn’t had to worry about day to day issues in the same way that most people with significant mobility impairments do, and he hasn’t learned the importance of contingency planning. he’s about to get a hard lesson.

Rocky is a beautiful Nepalese pony with the thick, wiry grey hair which protects against the chill of the mountains. He’s doubtless used to carrying baggage for climbers and tourists making Himalayan treks. What he’s not used to is carrying a person who moves in unpredictable ways, which must be unsettling, even for a sure-footed animal, given the narrow paths he has to walk along, often with precipices to one side. It’s not clear if Max has been taught the words which might reassure him, or if he’s familiar with English. At first he bears up well and gets deserved praise. The upshot of this, however, is that when things do go wrong, the group is already far from help, and going back could be just as hard as going on.

It’s not all struggle and strife in a film which does showcase a fair measure of courage from Max and, early on, infectious excitement about the pending adventure. It also provides a rare chance to appreciate the verdant beauty of the famous mountain’s lower slopes, often shrouded in mist, before they give way to the clear light and crisp air of the icy world above. Furthermore, like some of the best mountaineering films, it brings us up close to somebody who is truly getting to grips with his bodily limitations for the first time – an experience which can, in its own way, be liberating. Max has the intelligence to learn from it and, finally, to call into question his own desire to prove himself on other people’s terms. A final twist in his story gives him a fresh opportunity to recognise his innate value.

Importantly, the film situates Max’s Everest adventure in context, destroying popular Nietzschean notions about what might make one stronger. It’s a realistic appraisal of what life with a disability is like, with implications far beyond its central story, and plenty for able-bodied viewers to learn from besides. in the end, the mountain is not the point, but the mountain makes its point, and makes its presence felt, more forcefully than ever.

My Everest is in cinemas 27 April 2023, with a special Q&A screening at BFI IMAX on 27 April 2023