Touching the Void (2003)

Joe Simpson and Simon Yates recount the mountaineering accident that forced an almost impossible decision in the Peruvian Andes. Their interviews are intercut with substantial dramatic reconstruction performed by actors, so the dangerous-looking scenes are not footage of the original ordeal. Kevin Macdonald makes the geography and dwindling options painfully comprehensible. Choose this documentary hybrid for a survival story in which understanding the dilemma increases the tension rather than resolving it.