What happens when a surgeon and a journalist are stranded in the Rockies after surviving a plane crash? Oddly enough, that's not the question asked by The Mountain Between Us, despite what the exciting marketing sold us. The real question asked by the film is (SPOILER ALERT, if you are incapable of predicting the sun will rise every 24 hours) why wouldn't Kate Winslet and Idris Elba survive a plane crash if not to fall in love? And unfortunately, that question is the one no one should have ever bothered to ask.
It's not even the stars' fault. Delicious as it is to hear their beautiful voices and watch their gorgeous bodies (almost always covered in layers of survival gear), the movie undermines most of their typically wonderful work. Elba, the surgeon eager to operate on his patient, delivers a warm portrait of a romantic man caught in an impossible situation; pragmatic and able to survive a long time, he's also cautious to a fault, unable to make decisions that would lead to rescue. One might think he read Hatchet in his youth, or has seen too many episodes of Lost. That's where Winslet comes in. Effectively a damsel in distress due to a broken (?) leg in the crash, her photo journalist is almost entirely useless in the film, a burden actually, except that she is force that leads the duo off the mountaintop and toward salvation. In case you couldn't gather, it's not a riveting premise.
But maybe that's okay. After all, director Hany Abu-Assad seems to relish in the movie's emotional core. While that comes as a disappointment to those of us eager for a well-acted disaster/survival flick, it would certainly make for a cozy Valentine's Day date. The two leads are at relaxed odds from the get-go, as they gaze at each other through their small plane's cockpit windows. Their emotional distance is not helped when they are forced to care for each other (and a perfectly delightful dog) in the ruins of their fuselage, nor when Winslet's curious character repeatedly tries prying into her partner's personal life. There is are some interesting juxtapositions of chill and warmth, particularly as the film progresses. As the icy distance between the eventual lovers is lessened, and they decrease their altitude, the visuals turn from ice and snow to water, as we eventually see Elba walking in the rain and Winslet swimming in a pool.
This transition is predicated earlier in the film, in a scene when Winslet almost drowns in an ice-covered lake. Scenes like this, interspersed with the sentimental romance unfolding before us, do somewhat break up the monotony. But the best of these occurs early on as a cougar attacks Winlset; that was a wee bit terrifying. Oh, and Elba almost falls off a mountain. But these exciting moments of spectacle do precious little to offset the sickly warm chemistry exuded by the leads, whose efforts carry the movie far more than its inept script ever could. Abu-Assad has his shining moments as well, especially during the plane crash scene (done in a single, spinning take); cinematographer Mandy Walker (Australia, Shattered Glass, Truth, Hidden Figures) also deserves her fair praise in making the rugged, gorgeous terrain a character in itself. Between the stars and their director, The Mountain Between Us is definitely worth a watch. Maybe try streaming it the next time you want to cuddle up to your sweetheart and not really care what you're watching.
IMDb: The Mountain Between Us
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