The all-star epic "Everest", based on the 1996 disaster that killed eight on the world's highest mountain, opened the 72nd Venice International Film Festival on Wednesday, providing the audience with chills and thrills amid Italy's torrent heat.

The movie's world premiere was screened in 3D following the festival's inauguration ceremony on the Lido of Venice.

The film shows two expeditions that aspire to climb Mount Qomolangma, known as Everest in the West.

The climbers face nearly impossible obstacles as a lifelong obsession becomes a breathtaking struggle for survival; several even lose their lives.

The life-or-death battle between the mountain and snow-blinded, oxygen-deprived climbers on the super-sized IMAX screen raised a frequently asked question about mountain climbing -- is it worth dying for?

"I am not a mountain afficionado but in any case, I cannot see the sense of this challenge. I think I would never do that," Giuseppe Fantasia, a culture and cinema critic at Il Foglio newspaper, said soon after watching the film.

"I was already feeling cold in the movie theater here, so just think about how I would feel like on top of Everest," Daniele Marseglia, a film critic at culture magazine Carnage News said.

"I cried like a fountain. I know that some people have exaggerated passions, but they should equip themselves before making such a dangerous attempt. There was a sort of fashion in the 1980s and 1990s to climb Everest, but these groups were not enough prepared," said Anna Vanzan, a journalist at Il Gazzettino newspaper.

Vanzan said she liked the movie yet she was surprised by the audience's reaction. "However, there was no applause in the end. I think spectators were kind of frozen themselves by the film's scenes," she said.

A group of students who had watched the two-and-a-half-hour movie also said that they would not try to climb Everest, despite the thrills. "I imagine it must be an incredible feeling and a sense of freedom when you are on top of that mountain. In fact, it is a way to challenge yourself, but I definitely would never try it," said Benedetta Grechi, who was among the audience.

"The film is well done and is also emotionally touching in some parts," said Ernesto Perez, a reviewer at Italy's ANSA news agency.

He noted, however, that the storyline was a little "old-fashioned," meaning entirely focused on the way facts happened, so that the characters appear less complex as a result.

"Climbing Everest? I think it is unnecessary," said Emanuele Di Gioia, who also watched the world premiere on Wednesday.

"I find it too much of a dangerous challenge," said Ylenia Politano, a journalist at Film 4 Life, an online magazine. But like other spectators, she said she was impressed by the monumentality of the challenge, as it is a "metaphor for life."

"Each person has his or her own Everest to climb, be it a higher or a lower one. The idea of challenging a peak is something that every person should have," Politano said.

"I would have preferred to see a more detailed description of each character's personality, but the director clearly decided to focus on the story's drama and the result was a strongly entertaining and emotional film," she said.

"It was important to show how you can get the most real version of yourself in a sort of existentialist attitude ... Any ambition can be linked to the metaphor of the mountain," Baltasar Kormakur, the director of "Everest," told Xinhua.

Kormakur took his cast, which included famous movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Keira Knightley and Josh Brolin, high into the Himalayas and imported snow to Britain's Pinewood Studios for authenticity.

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