Summit Mentality Review

Summit Mentality by Oliver Loom.

My first thought is there will have to be some strong characters, thinking of the adversity, the stamina, the patience and the logistics of it all. Mount Snowdon is one of the UK’s most impressive landscapes and challenges. This is ostensibly about three folks participating in a 10k 24h run lapping the damn thing. People I can root for, people I would feel empathy with and want to see that win at all costs.

Then I met Ted, Travis and Joe, and I immediately disliked them. Three able bodies guys do physicals..one of them is a P.T. teacher, and the other is a semi-professional ref! He’s unemployed…oh wait, he went to a private school….I lived in Essex, and they looked like the guys whose idea of banta is rubbing my gut while I’m having an anxiety attack in the hippodrome trying to carry three pints with my ‘funny hands’ as they got called back in the day. Maybe hold my keys back to get into my flat until I do a truffle shuffle or some shit.

Throughout the film, though, they and their race coordinator form a sense of healthy male bonds and emotional vulnerability that put me to shame in all these petty judgements.

Ted, at first, seems the vaguest. But also the most sarcastic. With the notions of privilege, one of the things this has given him is a very disengaged upbringing, trying to motivate or focus on anything to any level and oer come anxious. Let’s be frank it’s not just the talks about anxiety; it’s the matter-of-fact manner he accepts it as part of his coping mechanism rather than ‘sef medicate’ or going toxic that wins throughout the run. His highs and lows with the situation are the most articulated and a joy to listen to.

Regarding toxicity, Joe is great at talking about his lack of depression for his emotional states. In his worst moments, he thinks of those worse off than him. And perspective to continue. I shared it with a friend earlier this morning, but also the nto express in time and place. And for Joe, that is in sports. The run falling on his grandfather’s death makes a single link many of you reading his will share. Fun runs in the family names, and gofundme’s replete for hospices. I did a few to help cancer charities when my mum was alive and since she passed. It’s a natural process. But the thing the film does that elevates is shown how strong the family bond itself is outside of simply a grandfather but also as a legacy as we see towards the end Joe talking and embraced with pride by various family members; in many ways, he is the simplistic heart of desire within the three. 

As a boxer and as a Personal trainer, Travis is the one who set my alpha sense tingling in eh initial talking heads. But his kindness and patience with himself while he is physically hyperactive its screen appearance. To see his hurt and be prepared to show it as it’s not some Napoleon complex he has but genuine adversity from others dismissing him from an early age he is overcoming here. 

The interplay and how they all talk about feelings, goals, and motivations is crucial to the film’s appeal. In a continual conversation about you men being incels and aggro, seeing a holistic benefit of sport and physical health and their ability to cut between all the forms of health on a holistic level was inspiring even more than the trek itself.

Oliver covers the ground with great aplomb using techniques and first-person head cams at points, so you feel the weight of each step n these young men. The soundscape also brings ethereal electronica, more popularised by Mogwai and latter-day Portishead, to give a certain sheen.

The film at 58 minutes could have been trimmed. A far stronger 45 is within it. But it would be nips and tucks, and it’s not a wrong way to spend an hour in the company of these men. While having a pint. And, in my case, a biscuit.

Check it out soon as you get the chance.