Its better to burn out than fade away….. Lies. Tea for Three is a film about three “older” South African climber, who ‘by day’ are a surgeon, carpenter, and a retiree, but the rest of the time are badass weekend warriors.
This film treats tea the way Wolfgang Gullich treated coffee. Its ritual, not tangent to climbing but fully part of the experience. Its a mark of friendship, both in the brewing of it for your friends, and in your friends who don’t particularly care for tea drinking it anyway.
Male bonding is a strange thing – to the outside observer, the caustic remarks between the best of friends makes them appear worst of enemies. Seeing true friendship in this way, especially for a demographic that can be isolated, is nice. The kind of friends that you meet at a distance with a loving one-finger salute.
Its not surprising to me to see climbers bolder than I – sure I’ll push it over a pad but won’t rope up, but these silver haired folks with a medical history full of broken bones still run it out further than I might. Its inspiring to see that the fire hasn’t dimmed in these fellows, they are projecting, putting up routes in South Africa, looking towards the alps.
That said, these 3 “grey beards” aren’t the sole climbers in this film. The rest of the cast is rounded out with the perspective of a few female climbers, a climber with a physical disability, someone who is just trying to send off the couch, and even *gasp* a boulderer.
You’ll notice I haven’t included a list of routes shown, because the routes aren’t the point. It’s not a “climbing” film showcasing the stone – even the slipcover makes it clear – “Best film on Mountain Culture”. Its a film about the friendships and the hardships and life – marriage (a wedding is shown even!), kids, age, (dis)ability, work-life balance. This isn’t taking in gnarly sends, its sitting by a campfire and listening to the sage elder statesmen drop nuggets of knowledge on all the meta in climbing for an hour. I thought I’d grow bored of that, but our three wisemen are charismatic enough to hold ones attention and that’s what makes this film work
Quote of the Film: “Its worthwhile to die on an aesthetically beautiful line. But not on an ugly line”
Verdict: An Enjoyable “Lifestyle” Film. In earnest, I never was much one for the footage of 20-somethings living the van-life either on sponsorship, trust-funds, or borderline poverty, dispensing with “life advice”. These three have seen nearly twice as much life as I have, and are largely regular working stiffs with jobs and families and all the considerations that come with it, lending a weight to their opinions that forced me to stop and listen.
Who:
Charles “Snort” Edelstein
Tinie Versfeld
Tony Dick
Gosia Lipinska
Esme Davies
Adelle McCann
Tristan Firman
Jeremy Sampson
Justin Hawkins
Ed February
Andrew de Klerk
Evelyn Terblance
Clinton Martinengo
Margaret Milne
Nicholas, Duncan, and Lucy Edelstein
Matthew Good
Sebastian and Clea de Klerk
Adam Roffe