The mystery surrounding the Dyatlov Pass incident is baffling and sad. It fuels conspiracy theorists who claim that it was aliens, a Russian yeti, or maybe the KGB that murdered nine young hikers. A new documentary, An Unknown Compelling Force, doesn’t arrive at any new answers, but it does humanize the lives lost on that fateful day in early 1959 while questioning the Russian government’s recent conclusions about the case.

The hikers died in the northern Ural Mountains in early February from unknown circumstances. The trekking group from the Ural Polytechnical Institute, led by Igor Dyatlov, fled from their tents, inadequately dressed for the heavy snowfall and subzero temperatures. Their bodies were eventually recovered and had signs of severe physical trauma. Initially, Soviet authorities said that six of them died from hypothermia while three had been killed by physical trauma. In 2019, Russia opened a new investigation, and in 2020, the country declared that the hikers died from an avalanche.

An Unknown Compelling Force, written, directed, and produced by Liam Le Guillou, does not reach any new conclusions about what happened to the group. However, the documentary quickly rules out some of the more bizarre theories, such as aliens or a yeti. Instead of focusing on the paranormal, it presents a rather compelling case that the group could have been murdered, perhaps by Native peoples such as the Mansi or Khanty, especially if the group unknowingly encountered one of the indigenous group’s sacred areas.

That said, Le Guillou makes clear that he doesn’t want to assign blame to a collective group of people or paint them in a negative light. He does explore the history of the Nasi people, specifically how the Soviets tried to colonize them in the 20^th Century, using similar tactics that occurred in the United States. The Soviets eradicated their culture, forcing them to attend boarding schools while outlawing their customs and culture. Kudos to the filmmaker for sharing this story and not merely glossing over it.

Le Guillou inserts himself into the story and repeats the trek that the hikers made, facing blizzards and subzero temps for the sake of the project. The wide, sweeping shots of the snowy landscape are breathtaking. However, the documentary would have benefited from more interviews and face time with experts like Russian writer and investigative journalist Svetlana Oss, author of Don’t Go There: The Mystery of Dyatlov Pass. She fleshes out the hikers’ lives, sharing personal details and information about each one, including their personality quirks, thus compounding the weight of the tragedy. The first half of the film includes their journal entries, humanizing them even more.

At the beginning of the film, Le Guillou confesses that he’s obsessed with the story and has spent countless hours reading whatever he could find online. It’s easy to see why the story is so compelling. These were young hikers with their lives ahead of them. What happened to them remains a heartbreaking story. Though An Unknown Compelling Force doesn’t present any definite conclusions or introduce any new theories, it does remind us that the victims were real people with distinct personality traits, hopes, and ambitions. The documentary works best when the lives of the nine hikers are front and center, personalizing the Dyatlov Pass incident. The human side of this uncanny tragedy shines and tugs at the heartstrings.

7/10