Rated: M
Directed by: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin
Produced by: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes
Cinematographer: Jimmy Chin
Featuring: Alex Honnold
‘I see it all rooted in rationalism, in a basic evaluation of objective reality: Can I do this? And if I can, then I just do it’ – Alex Honnold.
After nine years of living in a van, living a ‘dirt-bag’ climber existence, professional rock climber Alex Honnold overcomes the most fearsome feat for a ground dweller to contemplate: to free solo climb (rock climbing without rope or any safety net if he falls) the El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. A 3200-foot climb that climbing with ropes requires a gold medal standard of skill.
To climb without a safety-net requires an iron-clad emotional armour where fear has no place.
This ability to overcome fear became such a fascination Alex agreed to have a Functional-MRI scan to analyse the function of his brain while pictures of fearful images were shown: knives, heights (ha, ha). It was interesting to see his amygdala showed no activation compared to the control.
Alex explains he’s faced his fears so often there’s no fear left.
Director Jimmy Chin explains the difficulty in filming a documentary where the threat of death is as close as you can get. It has its issues. Especially when you’re friends with the guy.
It’s all about trusting the subject (friend) to make the right decisions and not push just because he’s on camera. And that trust and not wanting to see someone you know fall to their death while you’re filming creates a whole other dimension to the film because we see the type of personality it takes to contemplate, let alone, achieve something so dangerous, scary, impossible.
Adding girlfriend, Sanni McCandless, to the mix just shows the layers of emotion Alex has to process, or not – he’s kinda a cold rational thinker adding a bizarre lightness to the tone of the film – to get to a headspace to make such a climb.
Free Solo wasn’t so much a thrill ride, although I kept repeating, Oh my God. Oh. My. GOD – the ‘Boulder Problem’ part of the climb had me gripping the arm rest of my seat. The film was more an insight into the process to get to that headspace – iron-clad determination combined with a shrug of, We’ve all got to die at some stage.
Finding the edge just makes death feel more immediate. If you die in an accident, then it’s a shame – you’ll be missed. But dying on your own terms changes the dynamic. Life is short. Live it.
When someone loves you, like Alex’s seemingly accident-provoking, ever-loving girlfriend Sanni, then there’s more to lose.
The film asks, but if you don’t do what you love than how do you feel alive?
Free Solo isn’t a documentary just about Alex, it also brings the film makers into the story, to show the truth of what Alex’s trying to achieve. It’s crazy. To film the climb is crazy. But he does it. And it’s amazing.