* This post may contain spoiler alerts.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (8 Stars)
Plot: Alex Honnold attempts to become the first person to ever free solo climb El Capitan.*
This documentary was just WOW. I can't imagine what Alex had to go through to make this movie. But let's start at the beginning verse skipping ahead to the end. For anyone that doesn't know, let's catch you up to speed on a few basics.
Alex Honnold (pictured above) is a professional adventure rock climber whose audacious free-solo ascents of America's biggest cliffs have made him one of the most recognized and followed climbers in the world.* I didn't even know the name until I watched this documentary and now I follow him across all the platforms.
Free solo climbing or free soloing is a form of rock climbing where the climber or free soloist performs a climb alone without using any ropes, harnesses or protective equipment. Forcing them to rely entirely on their own individual strength and skill to scale a wall or mountain. Unlike bouldering, free soloists climb above safe heights where a fall would result in serious injury or even death.*
El Capitan, also known as El Cap, is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, located on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith is about 3,000 feet from base to summit along its tallest face, and is a popular objective for rock climbers.*
I am not a climber. I don't know anything about climbing. So how did this movie get added to my 'Must See' list? It was nominated for an Oscar and has since won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature...over the documentary RBG. How could a documentary about free solo climbing beat a documentary about the exceptional life and career of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg?
The documentary starts off with Alex explaining how he got into climbing and really shows you his process for climbing. He is an introvert so he typically climbs solo. He doesn't like to keep a girlfriend or tell people if he is going climbing because it adds too much pressure not to make a mistake. He is vegan and lives in a van. His has sponsors but 1/3 of his earnings goes towards his environmental non-profit, Honnold Foundation. He has made climbing his career and states in the documentary "I would choose climbing over anything else in life." From all that information in the first 20 - 30 minutes, you get a real sense as to who he is as a person and that climbing is his real passion in life.
After you get through all the background, the documentary (for me) really gets interesting. See I work in the video production world and am fascinated with how things are made. That is exactly where this documentary goes. They go into team meetings as to how the video production crew is going to film Alex free soloing El Capitan. What is very shocking for me is that all cameramen are also professional climbers. How is that possible?
The documentary moves along Alex's journey of taking on El Cap the first time. It shows him practicing the path, deciding where he is going to put his hands and feet all while consulting with another climber, and where the camera crew will be to capture the whole thing. It gets to this pivital moment when Alex is going up for the climb and he stops because he is not mentally ready. Yup, the documentary takes a hard stop because of a few reasons:
1. His Girlfriend: Like I mentioned before, Alex doesn't like to have a girlfriend in his life because that creates added pressure of making sure the climb is successful. And when I say successful I mean not falling 100 feet to his death.
2. The Camera Crew: They are there to film the experience but the crew was in the way and messing with Alex's concentration. Because of this, Alex stops the climb to re-evaluate where the crew could be placed so it is out of his way so he can concentrate on you know... not falling 100 feet to his death.
3. I am sure he was alway under a great deal of stress and pressure due to everything going on and doesn't want to... you know... fall 100 feet to his death. It probably f$!ked up his thinking a bit.
In the end, Alex does do the climb but it wasn't as planned out. At the beginning of the documentary, he says that he likes to just go climbing and not tell anyone when he does it so there is a lot less pressure. And that is exactly what he does. He wakes up one morning feeling great, tells no one where he is going, and climbs El Capitan. So how does it get filmed? Well, the camera crew is alerted and sets up very far away from Alex as well as only film close to him via drone.
Even though you are watching a guy climb a rock, you were cheering for him the whole way. I didn't know if he lived or fell 100 feet to his death when I started the documentary. It gave me that much more anticipation to see if he lived or not. I won't spoil the end for you because it is too good. I would highly recommend this movie which is now streaming on Hulu. This is one of the first movies I have reviewed after watching it at home versus seeing in the theater. And I have to say - it was incredible! I was engaged. I had an adrenaline rush going while he was climbing. And honestly, you kind of fall in love with Alex's passion in the end.
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