Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa (No Rating)
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In this gorgeously filmed documentary, five people from all over the world embark on a journey up the world's largest freestanding mountain. They're accompanied by a shaman-like mountain guide, Jacob Kyungai, who has made the trek more than 250 times and is full of patience and wisdom about a mountain that functions like its own planet inside a faraway solar system. Weather nerds (like me) will swoon: At 13,000 feet, it's summer every day and winter every night; at dusk, the desert foliage wraps itself up like a giant avocado. The cinematography is spectacular--full of soaring shots of peaks that look like they're entirely covered by thick beds of moss. But the most beautiful part of this 45-minute film is the fact that a 12-year-old girl from Massachusetts and a 13-year-old boy from Tanzania would want to climb a 19,340-foot mountain so badly that it brings one of them to tears (I won't say which). Kilimanjaro is a fun-for-the-whole-family flick: Kids will want to spread out their arms as if in flight; others might want to rescue their stomachs from their throats at points. Yet the movie's "you can do anything" conceit is never sappy or preachy. It may, however, make you feel just a tad guilty for thinking your New Year's resolution to "get organized" was way too overwhelming. (Molly Priesmeyer)
Review by Molly Priesmeyer
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