Not only will viewers be treated to a thrilling adventure when they watch the Tenzing biopic on Apple TV, they’ll also receive a much-needed history lesson of an often-overlooked hero of mountaineering history. Genden Phuntsok stars as Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa mountaineer who, alongside New Zealander Edmund Hillary (played by Tom Hiddleston), became the first people to summit Mount Everest in 1953. The expedition, led by British Army officer John Hunt (played by Willem Dafoe) is often told as a story of British victory. But director Jennifer Peedom and write Luke Davies re-center the story to its rightful protagonist: the man who was raised in the shadow of Earth’s tallest mountain, and dedicated his life to both climbing it himself and helping foreigners (usually white Europeans) to climb it. Filmed on real mountains with Sherpa consultants, Tenzing is an entertaining, thorough, and loving tribute.
Photo: Apple Studios
