During a mission in Kathmandu, photojournalist Fukamachi believes he sees a great Japanese mountaineer who has been missing for years, Habu Jôji. More intriguing still, the latter seems to have in his possession the camera that the legendary climber George Mallory took with him during his attempt to climb Mount Everest in 1924.
This camera is of paramount importance in the history of mountaineering: the film it contains could prove whether Mallory actually reached the top, almost 30 years before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay.
Fukamachi therefore undertakes a quest to find Habu Jôji and the camera.
The top of the gods is an adaptation of a manga by Jiro Taniguchi, himself adapted from a novel by Baku Yumemakura. Obviously, this story fascinates.
This new version takes the form of an animated film with ultra-realistic settings, whether it is grandiose landscapes of the Himalayas or street scenes in Kathmandu. The figures are drawn in larger lines, but special attention is paid to mountaineering clothing and equipment.
We capture the atmosphere of the high mountains: the cold, the ice, the wind, but also the beauty that emerges between two storms.
You don’t have to be a mountaineering fanatic to appreciate the film: you take care to explain a few concepts, to underline the importance of a particular issue. In any case, the main thing is Fukamachi’s quest and the portrait of the character of Habu Jôji, which gradually emerges over the course of the investigation. The plot never loses its interest.
Manga The top of the gods was a huge success in France, which is why this animated version is a Franco-Luxembourgish production, designed in French.
In “real life” Mallory’s body was discovered in 1999, but the camera was not with him. The mystery remains.
In theaters and on Netflix
Animation Film
The top of the gods
Patrick Imbert
1 h 30