Free Solo is the winner of the “Best Documentary Feature” award at
the recently finished 91st Academy Awards. Three Identical Strangers is still my favorite documentary film of 2018, but Free Solo is indeed incredible and much
deserving of its win. The biographical
documentary film chronicles American rock climber Alex Honnold as he prepares
and attempts conducting a free solo climb of El Capitan, a 3,000-foot vertical granite
rock formation in Yosemite National Park.
If he succeeds, he would be the first one to ever do it.
By the way, a free solo climb, or
free soloing or simply soloing, is rock climbing above safe heights without
using ropes, harnesses, or any other protective equipment (one iconic movie
scene that features free soloing is the rock climbing scene early in Mission: Impossible 2). Thus, if the climber makes just one tiny
mistake, he can likely fall to his death.
And the documentary does stress the fact that several of Alex’s peers
did meet their deaths while free soloing.
Look. I’m afraid of heights. I can’t help it. Even when I force myself to look down from a
high height – say, from the fourth floor of a mall – my knees would shake. When I rode a “Viking” ride (technically, in
amusement park ride terms, a “pirate ship”) a couple of years ago, my blood
pressure spiked. Heck, even by just
watching videos of people going to high heights, a physical reaction of terror
is elicited from me. It doesn’t even
matter if it’s within the context of a movie – even if it’s just CGI. I get affected nonetheless. With this in mind, you can just imagine how I
fared with watching Free Solo, in which
footage is real.
It’s also why, while watching this
movie, I just had to pause it and (er, SPOILERS, I guess?) Google first if Alex succeeded. True, this film wouldn’t have been released if
it had been otherwise, but still, I preferred to be relieved by a
confirmation. However, even though I
became aware that Alex survived and triumphed, watching the act still tensed me
up. My palms became sweaty and my heartbeat went into overdrive from seeing that the only things preventing Alex from
plunging to his death are his fingertips and the edges of his shoes. I squirmed and held my breath many times
while watching his climbs.
Actually, the actual, central climb is
only covered by the final 20 minutes of its 96-minute runtime. But its emotional stake is definitely
enhanced by the buildup and context provided by its first 76 minutes, which show the
meticulous preparation that Alex and the documentary team underwent, the
setbacks that he had to deal with, and most importantly, insights about his psyche, personality, worldview, and personal life.
I am against taking unnecessary risks. And I generally consider hazardous, life-threatening extreme hobbies like free soloing foolish and inconsiderate. However, the documentary does a great job in
making someone like me who has an opposing viewpoint see where Alex is
coming from. Throughout the documentary,
there’s some notable emphasis put on establishing what kind of eccentric person
he is in order to make the audience understand why he’s making these crazy
decisions. In one segment, it’s even stated
that his brain is wired differently compared to us; he’s impervious to the things that typically
stimulate most people.
Lastly, on top of all these, the cinematography
is stunning. Watching Alex free solo is
not only gripping and breathtaking because of the terrifying, death-defying nature
of the climb, but almost equally because of the impeccable showcasing of the
grandeur of El Capitan and the various gorgeous views around it.
Overall, Free Solo is quite an amazing documentary film.
The drama, excitement, and visual splendor that it has are comparable to
what can be found in notable films of fictional content and superbly rendered CGI.
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