Torn

Part family therapy, part weapons-grade tearjerker, this quite lovely documentary from the novice film-maker Max Lowe is an attempt to grapple with the implications of his father's death.

One of its pleasures is that everyone here is thoroughly decent, with a real story to tell.

[A] family story given elegant structure and poignancy...

Satisfyingly emotional without ever feeling sensationalized...

Superficially a documentary about a famous mountaineer, but really the story of a young man trying to understand why a father would risk his family to go mountain climbing, and why another mountain climber was able to find a more harmonious balance.

If there's a bit of slick corporate impersonality to the National Geographic packaging, the content remains involving, and the swift editorial pace has no lulls to risk losing viewer attention.

Torn is a sympathetic portrait of Anker. It's also a heartbreaking portrait of a family who, more than 20 years after Lowe's death, still seems to be in recovery mode.

Nothing about it is natural. But across Torn, Conrad Anker goes from guest to tireless companion – one who punctures the loneliness and cements the solitude of a broken family.

The film is commendable because of how it deals so sensitively and honestly with Alex’s struggle to choose between family and his passion for mountain climbing.

Although there's plenty of footage of the near-mythical, mountain-climbing icon Alex Lowe, this is ultimately a touching story of a family's long journey toward healing and recovery.