The documentary, produced by Sky Original, was created with a view to telling not only a mountaineering feat – the opening of a new route on the south face of the Marmolada – but also the relationship between man and nature in its various facets, whose transmission on big screen has been one of the fundamental goals for directors. “Through this film, we explore nature and man’s relationship with travel, in this case vertical. All by adopting a respectful, welcoming and humble attitude, which represents adventure and difficulties but which can also ignite the curiosity of ‘observer, especially in those who are less accustomed to climbing stories like this.” The documentary, in fact, was presented in competition at the Trento Film Festival: a curious thing for a mountaineering film, usually “relegated” to the Alp&Ism section, and received a special mention from the international jury.
In Marmolada – Mother Rock, the collaborative relationship with the mountaineers was then fundamental. As Maggi explains, the documentary is built on a pact of mutual trust and coordination. As filmmakers, you have the responsibility to tell the first experience of climbers from outside eyes, “taking in details that perhaps a person who lives the experience personally does not see”, says Pecci.
The feeling of adventure and discovery remains the common thread that forms the backdrop to the documentary in its entirety and that unites the climbers in their personal and generational differences. “The Marmolada is the Marmolada: I am a speck of dust compared to a wall like that” says Faletti in the documentary. The perception of being tiny compared to the mountain is the second leitmotif of the film. The grandeur of the wall becomes even more looming in the moments of greatest difficulty that the protagonists face. But the four still reached the top, after having multiplied – the original team was in fact made up of Faletti, Giordani and Della Bordella, to whom Bielli was then added – and divided – the choice was to proceed in two separate teams free respectively the first and second part of the path – the efforts.
“The Marmolada is the Queen of the Dolomites, the largest and most interesting wall because it offers infinite spaces to explore” says Maurizio Giordani, talking about what this mountain symbolizes for him. “For me it has always represented a very strong attraction – he added – for its verticality, so suited to my pure passion for climbing, but also for the environment and the potential for adventure that the wall offered then and still offers today ”.
A call that united these four mountaineers in undertaking the climb in a very rare space of virgin face on the Marmolada. In 1995, an attempt was made to climb that route, without success, given the great difficulties of the itinerary and its extreme verticality, pushed to the limit by the lack of holes.
“I wanted to call her Elder” jokes Massimo Faletti, who goes on to explain how the peculiar characteristic of the Marmolada are precisely the holes: even if difficult to reach, there are some. “The Fish of the famous route of the same name proves it. But in our sector there were no longer any holes to be found, especially in the central pitches. Iris arrived to solve the problem.”
Iris Bielli is a promising young Italian mountaineer, passionate about the mountains since she was a child thanks to her first excursions in the company of her grandmother, who passed on to her the charm of mountainous environments. “When I find myself in the middle of a wall I feel safe, almost as if it were a maternal embrace. Climbing on the Marmolada gave me the impression of a peaceful place, where I feel free and which I can call home. This is why it came to me mind the name Mother Rock”. In fact, it was Iris who named the route.
Giordani adds that the name also represents “something that ties together our passions, our past, our present and Iris’s future”. It is a common call for the whole group, which allowed us to overcome personal differences and which guided the mountaineers in this exciting adventure.
In fact, it is a group of four distinct generations, united by a passion for mountaineering, climbing and above all discovery: that of an unknown terrain like Madre Roccia, where no one has been before. “I think that everyone builds their own particular relationship with the mountain, because it is truly something intimate and personal” says Bielli, explaining the different relationship that each of the climbers had with the mountain during the experience.
This documentary demonstrates how the mountain is not just a challenge or an objective. For them, the Marmolada was also the environment in which relationships are strengthened, a challenge that makes individuals communities and which united the four climbers in this challenge towards heights. As Giordani states, the mountain deepens, gives added value to relationships and conveys the importance of being together. The mountain, therefore, is community, experience, challenge, companion: the mountain – and the Marmolada – is Mother Rock.
by Maddalena Volcan
Marmolada – Mother Rock
Direction: Matteo Maggi and Cristiana Pecci
Assistant director: Luca Maspes
With: Maurizio Giordani, Massimo Faletti, Matteo Della Bordella, Iris Bielli
Assembly: Matteo Falavigna, Matteo Maggi, Cristiana Pecci
