In the Oscar winning documentary “Man on Wire” Philippe Petit and his support crew sneak on to the newly completed World Trade Centre in 1974 and the French tightrope walker duly spends 45 minutes dancing between the twin towers on a 2cm wide metal wire.
It’s a jaw dropping finale to an amazing story of obsession and careful planning over many years by Philippe and it’s made even more remarkable because there is no actual movie vision of the act, only still photographs. Such is the drama leading up to the performance, the tension of what they achieved and the beautiful danger of the wire walk itself, the thought of watching it live would have been too much to bare. I’ve watched the documentary half a dozen times and the photographs of the event combined with commentary from the participants are more than enough.
In “Free Solo” there is no such empathy for the audience! The documentary follows rock climber Alex Honnold and his 8 year quest to “free climb” (no ropes) the 3000 ft El Capitan rock in Yosemite National Park.
Alex is a highly intelligent, borderline Asperger’s professional free climber. Whilst many of his contemporaries are seemingly dying all around him due to the perilous nature of the sport, Alex remains unperturbed and determined to take on a vertical wall of granite that looks more like glass.
He lives in a van, eats vegetables and has a smattering of personal belongings, mostly provided by sponsors. He lectures in schools and donates a third of what he earns to his foundation serving underdeveloped villages in Africa. Alex is complex but a meticulous planner and has a “strength to weight” ratio unlike any other athlete I’ve ever seen.
In order to prepare for the climb Alex climbs “The Cap” a number of times using ropes and along with a couple of buddies travels to Morrocco to free climb. It’s during this period where you start to see the quality of the cinemaphotography. The ropes vision is spectacular enough but when Alex free climbs, I was sinking slowly in my seat and my palms started sweating profusely. This was a teaser for what was to come.
The last 20 minutes of this film had me digging my toes so hard into the sole of my thongs, I thought they were going to penetrate! You know he’s going to survive but it doesn’t matter! I found myself pleading with the film makers to just put him up the top…. NOW!
Alex’s reaction to this monumental achievement when he reaches the summit is so underwhelming and says so much about this extraordinarily humble athlete.
It’s made me think about records that they said can’t be beaten. Bob Beamon’s long jump at the ’68 Mexico Olympics, the 4 minute mile and something extreme like the world altitude free fall descent. There are so many remarkable human achievements over my lifetime that are so inspiring but they have all been bettered in time.
What Alex Honnold achieved at El Capitan will never be repeated. Some may try but they will die. My mate Tails told me that Alex was recently voted the greatest athlete in the world by the world’s leading sports scribes. After you witness “Free Solo” I’m sure you’ll agree. Normally with a great film I will buy the dvd. Not this time. I’ve committed it to memory. I don’t want to put myself through that level of distress again! Highly recommended. 10/10.
