Just as I like to read true stories, I also enjoy watching films about events that have actually happened.  Yesterday I watched such a film – ‘Edie‘.  Edie was filmed in 2016 and starred the then 83 year old Sheila Hancock, who played the inspirational Edith Moore, a lady who tackled the hardest mountain to climb in Scotland (731 metres)  – Mount Suilven, when she was 83 years old.

Edie, a recent widow, had spent years caring for her controlling husband George, and to relieve her humdrum life she often harked back to climbing adventures she’d had with her father.  After Edie’s daughter began to make care home investigations, Edie decided to have one last fling and climb Mount Suilven as a tribute to her father.

It’s a truly inspirational film, and Edie is a very determined lady.  However, she needs help with equipment and finding a route.  Help comes in the form of a young local, Jonny.  Their relationship gets off on the wrong foot at first, and he is sure that Edie is too old to make the climb.  When he sees how determined Edie is to climb the mountain, his opinion of her as a silly old woman begins to change.

Edie does try to climb the mountain, and in attempting such an ordeal finds out just how much she can endure.  To find out if she succeeds, you’ll have to watch the film!

Sheila Hancock gained my admiration too, as filming must have been a very physical effort for her.

Recommended.

The other inspirational film I watched over the weekend was ‘Adrift’, another true story of the resilience of the human spirit.  True life sailors Tami Oldham (played by Shailene Woodley) and Richard Sharp (played by Sam Claiflin) take on the paid job of sailing a friend’s boat back to the USA, but on the way the boat is  damaged beyond repair by a hurricane.  In the aftermath of the storm, Tami and Richard are badly injured, and the boat is adrift without communication in open seas that have no shipping lanes.

Forty one days later the boat is still adrift.  Stocks of food and water have almost run out, and survival is now the name of the game.  However,  there is one hell of a surprise ending that I really didn’t see coming.

Both films kept my interest throughout.   The human spirit is really quite remarkable!