This being the holiday film season including Thanksgiving and Christmas we see a plethora of well-crafted dramas and high end action films hopefully to be considered come Oscar time. Now we are offered a documentary titled "Free Solo" about the trek of Yosemite's El Capitan. I truly love well-made documentaries, and there have been many worthy of renting: "The Corporation" '03, "Murderball" '05, "Capitalism: A Love Story" '09, "Fed Up" '14, "Life Itself" '14, the very recent "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" '18 and the like. So when I read about this documentary, it sounded intriguing and it was in spades.
From award-winning documentary filmmaker Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and world-renowned photographer and mountaineer Jimmy Chin comes National Geographic Documentary Film's "Free Solo", a stunning, intimate and unflinching portrait of the free soloist climber Alex Honnold, as he prepares to achieve his lifelong dream: climbing the face of the world's most famous rock...the 3,000ft El Capitan in Yosemite National Park...without a rope or safety gear. Celebrated as one of the greatest athletic feats of any kind, Honnold's climb set the ultimate standard: perfection or death. Succeeding in this challenge, Honnold becomes the first person to scale El Capitan free solo. As he's out in the elements, he's followed by Jimmy Chin who directs and photographs the events as are fellow rock climbers, Peter Croft, Tommy Caldwell and Journalist Mark Synnott overseeing his trek. Before his climb, his girlfriend, Sanni McCandless supports him, although is afraid for him as well.
This was stunningly and painstakingly directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi ("A Normal Life" '03, "Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love" '08, "Touba" '13, "Meru" '15, "Incorruptible" '15--all documentaries) plus TV and Jimmy Chin ("Meru" '15) plus a video short. This film was a stunning and thrilling feast for the eyes. Chin's field directing was comprehensive and was willing to obtain shots in places that had angles where one wouldn't know which end was up, because the shear side of El Capitan was so larger-than-life and so vertical that unless you saw Honnold in the films' frame, you wouldn't be able to distinguish which was up or down in the films' frame. Just the sheer intensity of these filmmakers and their ability to keep you on the edge of your seat was pure genius. Even though you know that Honnold accomplishes the climb, it was still a nail-biter watching him attempt his journey and practically worrying for him. This is pure filmmaking as its finest. As with the aforementioned documentaries, this too, is one of the best documentaries I've seen, and I've seen a plethora of them. This could be nominated come Oscar time and certainly goes down into the annals of fine documentaries.
If you're a documentary junkie, you'll get your fix with this film, and even if not, one can't help but be enamored by the grit that Honnold goes through. The rock-climbing scenes are painstakingly edited and photographed and the scenery is breathtaking. The selling slogan of the film says it all: "love beyond fear". If you love something that intently, fear has a difficult time adhering itself to the climber.
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: PG-13 100mins.
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