Mount Everest has inspired plenty of films about ambition, survival and the human urge to conquer seemingly impossible places. Apple TV’s Tenzing takes a different approach, shifting the focus towards Tenzing Norgay and the life that eventually led him to the summit alongside Edmund Hillary in 1953.
Directed by Jennifer Peedom, the 125-minute biopic follows Norgay across several stages of his life, with Samdrup Dorje Lama, Tenzin Dalha and Genden Phuntsok portraying him at different ages. Rather than treating Everest purely as something to be defeated, the film presents Chomolungma — the Tibetan name for the mountain — as something deeply connected to Norgay’s identity and home.
The story builds towards the famous British expedition led by Colonel John Hunt, played by Willem Dafoe. By that point, Norgay is already an enormously experienced mountaineer who has attempted Everest multiple times. His partnership with New Zealand climber Edmund Hillary, played by Tom Hiddleston, gradually becomes the emotional backbone of the final expedition.
Genden Phuntsok carries much of the film as the older Norgay, delivering a restrained performance that avoids turning the mountaineer into an untouchable historical figure. Hiddleston similarly keeps Hillary from dominating a story deliberately designed to restore attention to the man standing beside him in one of mountaineering’s most famous photographs.
Peedom’s documentary background is particularly useful once the expedition reaches Everest. Cinematographer Stefan Duscio repeatedly emphasises the sheer scale of the mountain, reducing the climbers to tiny figures surrounded by snow and rock. Sound design adds another physical layer, with boots, ice axes and the hostile environment doing plenty of storytelling without dialogue.
The film isn’t without problems. Its admiration for Norgay sometimes works against its attempt to create a fully complicated portrait. Tensions between Norgay and other Sherpas, including resentment surrounding his experience and ability to speak English, offer potentially richer material but aren’t explored as deeply as they could be. The pacing also slows in places before the final climb restores momentum.
Still, Tenzing’s most important decision is also its simplest: Everest’s most famous ascent was never the achievement of one man. By putting Norgay’s ambitions, family and relationship with the mountain at the centre, Peedom reframes a familiar historical event through the perspective Hollywood has too often left at the edge of the frame.
Tenzing arrives on Apple TV on October 16.
