Controversy

The experience of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates has been a very controversial story and was highly debated by Kevin MacDonald to be filmed. 

Both Simon Yates and Joe Simpson had to not be in contact following the years of the incident. Although they had a mutual falling out, they came together for the sake of the film. Both men had not been back to Siula Grande since 1985 when the tragic occurrence happened. In 2002, when they returned to film parts for the film both men experience severe emotional responses. Simpson experienced post traumatic stress disorder symptoms and was very hesitant with filming.

Withing the climbing community Simon Yates has received a lot of of backlash among fellow mountaineers for his decision to cut the rope. As seen in the clip below, it is clearly evident that this decision was highly contemplated and not just on impulse. As stated by Yates, you can see that he sat there for over and hour then decided to cut the rope. Although when he returned from his expedition in 1985 fellow citizens in England were very disappointed in his "selfish and malicious" choice. Despite others opinions on his choice, Joe Simpson completely defends his decision. Joe Simpson was quoted stating, "He had two choices, let me die or help me. He chose to help me". On numerous occasions Simpson has said that the only reason he is still alive is because of Yates' act of cutting the rope. He also expressed that if the situation were reversed he would have done the same thing and has no angst towards Yates. Although Simpson has publicly appeared stating this, Yates still is defined as "the guy who cut the rope".

Due to Yates receiving a lot of backlash after the trip, he cut off ties with Simpson in hopes of moving on from his past. He did not want to be defined by one decision that he made that he does not regret making. Prior to the filming of the movie, Yates and Simpson were friends but did not maintain a lot of contact.

This film was also very instrumental in changing the ruling for the Academy Awards documentary section. After the release of the film, critics were skeptical to allow the film to be nominated as the majority of it was a reenactment. This film made the Academy Awards officials revisit the rules for films. The outcome was that the limit of reenactments for documentaries was not able to be capped as long as true events were being captured.