A Lonely Place to Die

We sat down yesterday to watch “A Lonely Place to Die”, a film staring Angel off of Home and Away (as well as many other fine roles, including “The woman in '30 Days of Night'” and “The chick who is married to Sid's Bloke in 'Alias'”) A film which seemed to be of the “127 Hours” variety; an adventure holiday/extreme sport goes wrong. On the face of it it's about 5 mountaineers trying to climb a large mountain in the remotest part of Scotland they can find. However it takes a strange twist with the discovery of a young girl locked in a box, buried underground. What follows is almost a “Deadly Pursuit” on a budget. The plot doesn't seem to know where to go, although the effects are pretty good throughout. And the camera work/photography of the whole area is brilliantly breathtaking. I was however stunned by one very large scene, which caused me to spend the next 20 minutes shouting loudly and arguing with the film. It is this pivotal moment that I wish to discuss, however it is of course very spoilery. If you haven't seen the film but want to, then please, stop reading. Go watch the film then come back. If you have seen the film, or don't really care then please do read on.

Still here? Good. So, on finding the girl, Rob gets out his map and shows they are on a plateau. The nearest town is fairly close as the bird flies, about 5 miles due south. However there is a rather large gorge (the Devils Drop) between them and the town. He decides to take Alison with him, because she's the main star of the film. The other three are to head East around the ridge, before going south then south west. This is about 50 miles. All is looking good until Rob's rope is cut. Rob is on what we shall call the “North side” of the ridge/gorge. Alison is at this point, clinging to the same side. The bad guys then throw rocks at her, they are clearly on the top of the north ridge. Alison gets down and then, after watching the other 3 for a while, we return to her and she's now running through woods. We can therefore assume she climbed up the south side ridge. In fact we know she did because she finds the other three! There are just the other side of a river. Now, I'm no outdoors type, but.. what direction were they all heading in? How did they meet like this? And – and again I remind you I know very little of the outdoors life – surely this river crossing – dangerous as it appears to be, is still a hell of a lot safer then a 10 million gazillion foot drop to certain death, that is Devils Drop. Alison gets there the same time as the others – in fact, they get there before she does. Why didn't they chose to make that river the crossing point between the North and the South? They had enough rope with them at the start to allow one person to get across the river with one end of the rope, fasten it somewhere on the other side and create a simple bridge to cross. Hell, we made one many years ago in the scouts. Yes I know it's a fast flowing river, but.. Still surely a more sensible option than a drop that you DON'T have enough rope for... So, while I was still reeling from this stupidity of the plot, there comes a moment of terror when the bad guys start shooting our heroes. But.. the shots come from the south side... We see this when Alison crosses back through the water and the bad guys have to try and follow her. When did they cross the ravine? They hardly look the type to take on the Devils Drop. Is there yet another crossing; one capable of being navigated by two blokes – one who clearly doesn't get outside much either! And if so, why didn't Rob try that one?