Free Solo film review: “The concept is easy — if the climber falls, he dies.”
FIlm DOcumEnTarY BY naTIOnal GEOGraPhIc Elizabeth chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy chin Featuring Alex Honnold
doubt is the precursor to fear.” These were alex honnold’s words when discussing his epic 1000m ascent of El capitan’s vertical wall in the Yosemite Valley without a single safety rope at the TED talks in October 2018. Watching Free Solo – the story of this astounding ascent – there should be no doubt. We know that honnold survives the climb; the subsequent interviews and that TED talk last year confirm that he is still very much alive. and yet fear – the fear of watching someone fall to their death – is a constant companion throughout the film. Even for those with a reasonable grasp of what alex does, Free Solo is quite the eye-opener.
Director Jimmy chin and most of the film crew are all serious climbers in their own right, and this degree of expertise has allowed them to create a film that brings the phenomenal spectacle of honnold’s achievement into sharp relief. But where Free Solo strays from being a good climbing documentary into the realms of being a terrific film is in its general appeal. This is not 96 minutes of introspective jargon-filled climbing pornography that will only appeal to those well versed in all aspects of the sport. This is a film for everyone. That Elizabeth chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy chin have managed to take a subject that can be immensely technical and make it relatable without patronising their audience is to be lauded as much as the vertigo-inducing wall shots and sweaty-palmed tension that pervades the film. It helps that the concept free soloing is so easily understood — climbing without ropes so that if the climber falls, he dies.
Perhaps the least relatable aspect of
Free Solo is honnold himself. his lack of fear, his awkward interactions with others, and those dark, unrevealing eyes all make him difficult to warm to. certainly the other players in the story – honnold’s girlfriend Sanni mccandless (who’s relationship struggles with alex are simultaneously commonplace and entirely unique), the film crew (who struggle to come to terms with knowing that they might be about to film his death), and alex’s close friend, regular climbing partner and record-breaking climber in his own right Tommy caldwell – all add doses of much-needed humanity. But is it really any surprise that alex honnold isn’t quite wired the same as the rest of us? Tommy caldwell perhaps sums it up best: “Imagine an Olympic gold medal-level athletic achievement that, if you don’t get that gold medal, you’re going to die. That’s pretty much what soloing El cap is like.” In the end, nothing can take away the sheer jaw-dropping ridiculousness of what it is honnold does, and it’s hard to imagine how Free Solo could have done it any better. a staggering movie for all the right reasons. Review by Ben Weeks