--- title: "Sherpa" year: 2015 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/sherpa" fi1m_id: "sherpa" imdb_id: "tt3746250" tmdb_id: 341366 wikidata_id: "Q25136340" fi1m_score: 82 critics_score: 79 critics_reviews: 11 published: "2026-10-02T23:07:34.309639+00:00" updated: "2026-10-02T23:08:02.484697+00:00" region: "CZ" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Sherpa (2015) Directed by Jennifer Peedom · 1h 36m · Documentary ## Identity Sherpa - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/sherpa - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** sherpa - **IMDb ID:** tt3746250 - **TMDB ID:** 341366 - **Wikidata ID:** Q25136340 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3746250/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/341366, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q25136340 **Fi1m score: 82** · Critics 79 from 11 reviews *In a sentence:* Aluminium ladders over a crevasse in the dark, again and again, so somebody else can have the photograph > Jennifer Peedom went to Everest to film a climbing season from the Sherpas’ side of the rope and came back with a film about a disaster. It is clear, angry and finely shot, and a little too easy on itself where the paying climbers are concerned. ## Synopsis Everest base camp, Nepal, spring 2014. Phurba Tashi (himself) has stood on the summit twenty-one times and is going back, as head Sherpa for the expedition company run by New Zealander Russell Brice (himself). His family would rather he stopped. Brice’s paying clients, among them American climber Tim Medvetz (himself), arrive to acclimatise while Phurba, Pasang Tenzing Sherpa (himself) and the other Sherpas carry loads up through the Khumbu Icefall, crossing crevasses on lashed-together aluminium ladders in the dark. A puja ceremony blesses the season. The film recalls the previous year’s fight between Sherpas and European climbers. Then, on 18 April, a block of ice falls into the icefall and kills sixteen men, and the season Peedom came to film becomes a different film. ## Review Jennifer Peedom went to Everest in the spring of 2014 to make a film about work. Her subject was Phurba Tashi, who has been to the summit twenty-one times and leads the Sherpa team for Russell Brice, the New Zealander whose company guides paying clients up the mountain. The idea was to show what a season looks like from the end of the rope that does the carrying. Then, on 18 April, a block of ice fell into the Khumbu Icefall and killed sixteen men, and Peedom found herself holding a camera at the centre of the worst thing that had happened on the mountain in living memory. *Sherpa* is the most useful film about Everest we have seen, and the first that is not about getting to the top. The three cinematographers, Hugh Miller, Renan Öztürk and Ken Sauls, shoot the mountain the way the men who work on it see it. There are time-lapses of base camp at night, the tents glowing orange under a sky full of stars, and before dawn a line of headlamps crawling up through the icefall. There are the ladders: lengths of aluminium lashed end to end across a crevasse, and a man in crampons walking over them with a load on his back, the blue drop beneath his boots in frame the whole time. Clients cross this a few times in a season; the Sherpas cross it over and over, fixing the route, hauling oxygen, hauling tents. Christian Gazal cuts these passages slowly and lets them sit, so that by the time anything goes wrong we understand exactly what the icefall is and who spends their mornings in it. When it does go wrong, the film goes quiet. There is radio chatter, Brice’s voice trying to count his people, and then helicopters, and then bodies on long lines beneath the helicopters, swinging over the tents on their way down. We were horrified, and what did it was how still the camera held. Nobody runs towards anything. Later, in a meeting, one of the clients asks Brice whether the Sherpas’ “owners” can be talked to, and we felt a clean, cold anger we had not expected a documentary to give us. The film does not comment on the line. It does not have to. Brice gets a fair hearing, which is to the film’s credit. He has built a business on these men and he plainly cares about them, and he plainly does not understand what they are asking for when they start to ask for it. Peedom gives him time to be reasonable, and to be frightened for his livelihood, and to be wrong. Tim Medvetz, one of his clients, is allowed the same courtesy. The film is on the Sherpas’ side, and it says so, but it does not pretend the other side is made of villains. It is, though, a little pleased with itself about the Westerners. When a client says something foolish Gazal cuts to a reaction, and we felt the editing nudging us. The opening history lesson, which reaches back to Tenzing Norgay and the 1953 ascent and the long habit of Western climbers taking the credit, is rushed through in a few minutes and deserved more. Pasang Tenzing Sherpa, who seems the most articulate man at base camp, gets less screen time than he earns. And in the second half, as the season turns into a dispute between the Sherpas, the expedition companies and the Nepalese government, the film loses a little of its clarity about who is deciding what, and when. Mountain films are usually about one person’s will: a climber, a summit, a question of whether he will make it. This one is about the people hired to make that will possible, and about what they are paid for the risk, and what their families think of it. Phurba’s wife and children are in the film, and they do not want him on the mountain, and the camera does not argue with them. The tagline on the poster is “Some live to climb. They climb to live.” It is the rare tagline that is also the argument. See it before any other Everest film, and preferably before deciding to go there yourself. It is 96 minutes, certificate 15, and the ladders will stay with you. *Fi1m score 82, published 2 October 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Sherpa worth watching?** *Sherpa* is worth watching for anyone with any interest in Everest, and we scored it 82. It is a documentary about the men who carry the loads rather than the climbers who take the photographs, and it turns, partway through, into a film about a disaster. We found it clear, angry and finely shot, though a little pleased with itself where the paying clients are concerned. **How long is Sherpa, and what is it rated?** *Sherpa* runs 1h 36m. It is a documentary film. **Where can I watch Sherpa in Czechia?** *Sherpa* is not on any streaming or rental service in Czechia at the moment. It is available in 3 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is Sherpa, and is it suitable for children?** *Sherpa* is a certificate 15 documentary with no staged violence, but it contains real death: sixteen men are killed in the Khumbu Icefall, and the film shows bodies being flown down beneath helicopters. The camera holds still rather than looking away, which is what horrified us. It is not for children, and the squeamish should know the second half is about grief and its aftermath. **How does Sherpa compare to Touching the Void?** *Sherpa* and [*Touching the Void*](https://film.one/film/touching-the-void) are both mountain films, but they are about different things. Kevin Macdonald's film is a reconstructed survival story about two climbers and what the mountain does to one of them; Peedom's is observational footage of the people hired to make other people's ambitions possible. *Touching the Void* is the more suspenseful evening; *Sherpa* is the more useful film, and the one to see first if you have thought about going. **What should I watch after Sherpa?** After *Sherpa*, try [*Touching the Void*](https://film.one/film/touching-the-void) (2003, Fi1m 87): The best account of what a mountain does to a person who gets it wrong. Then [*Harlan County, USA*](https://film.one/film/harlan-county-u-s-a) (1976, Fi1m 88): A camera present when workers decide they have had enough; the same quiet fury. ### Reviews we read (11) - **Time Out**, Tom Huddleston (5/5): The review calls the documentary unforgettable. It singles out its account of the Everest disaster from the Sherpas’ perspective. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/sherpa) - **Los Angeles Times**, Sheri Linden (90/100, inferred): The critic gives the documentary an enthusiastic recommendation, praising its visual magnificence and political urgency. She especially singles out the compelling human drama between guide Phurba Tashi Sherpa and expedition operator Russell Brice. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-sherpa-movie-review-20151001-story.html) - **Variety**, Richard Kuipers (85/100, inferred): Kuipers gives the documentary a strongly positive verdict, praising its visual magnificence and emotional force. He especially highlights the filmmakers’ balance of intimate Sherpa stories with the disaster’s rescue efforts and political fallout. [Read](https://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/sherpa-review-mount-everest-1201538634/) - **Empire**, Patrick Peters (80/100, inferred): The review finds the documentary spectacular, intimate and politically provocative. It praises the film’s forceful examination of Sherpas’ dangerous work and exploitation by Westerners. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/sherpa-review/) - **Evening Standard**, Charlotte O'Sullivan (80/100, inferred): O'Sullivan finds the documentary tense, fascinating and eye-opening, while noting that it avoids sentimentalising its subject. She praises its stark exposure of the dangerous, often unnecessary labor Sherpas perform for Everest tourists. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/sherpa-film-review-disturbing-truth-behind-the-everest-industry-a3140521.html) - **Little White Lies**, Adam Woodward (3/4/3): The critic finds the documentary compelling and damning in its account of Sherpa exploitation. He praises its sensitive portrayal of the community and its history, with the tragedy on the mountain intensifying its message. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/sherpa) - **Radio Times**, David Parkinson (4/5): Parkinson regards the documentary as compelling and astute. He praises its stunning vistas and intimate insights into Sherpa life. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-uxn8xr/sherpa/) - **The Guardian**, Henry Barnes (4/5): Barnes calls the documentary smart, genuine and thoughtful. He praises its account of Sherpa workers recognizing their power after the deadly avalanche. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/dec/17/sherpa-review-peril-in-the-shadow-of-everest) - **Total Film**, Stephen Puddicombe (70/100, inferred): Puddicombe gives the documentary a clearly positive assessment, noting its damning view of the Everest industry. He praises how Peedom builds tension and uses candid footage to expose Western climbers’ entitled attitudes. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/movies-to-watch-18-december-2015/) - **Screen Daily**, Sarah Ward (64/100, inferred): The page identifies this as Sarah Ward's review, but the paywall hides her verdict. No specific praise or complaint is available in the accessible text. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/sherpa-review/5089226.article) - **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The accessible page does not reveal the critic’s verdict. It provides no praise or complaint to summarize. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/02/movies/review-sherpa-delves-into-a-risky-profession.html) ## Details - **Director:** Jennifer Peedom - **Director:** Jennifer Peedom - **Cinematography:** Hugh Miller, Renan Öztürk, Ken Sauls - **Editor:** Christian Gazal - **Producer:** John Smithson, Bridget Ikin - **Cast:** Russell Brice as Self; Tim Medvetz as Self; Pasang Tenzing Sherpa as Self; Phurba Tashi as Self - **Runtime:** 1h 36m - **First release (Australia):** 7 June 2015 - **Genres:** Documentary - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of-WyN_J6Z4 ## Where to watch in Czechia Not streaming, renting or buying in Czechia at the last check. Also available in: AU, NZ, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Meru* (2015): Three climbers, one impossible face, and the camera up there with them - *Touching the Void* (2003), Fi1m 87: The best account of what a mountain does to a person who gets it wrong — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/touching-the-void.md) - *The Summit* (2012): The 2008 K2 disaster, and a Sherpa who went back up when nobody else would - *The Epic of Everest* (1924): Silent footage of the 1924 attempt; the Sherpas are already there, already carrying - *Harlan County, USA* (1976), Fi1m 88: A camera present when workers decide they have had enough; the same quiet fury — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/harlan-county-u-s-a.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/sherpa