Alex Honnold, the subject of Free Solo, needed to adjust from being a loner with no eyes on him to getting comfortable with being part of a community and embracing his emerging social, emotional side to accomplish his greatest individual achievement and become his best self. Jimmy Chin, Honnold’s friend and fellow climber, and Elizabeth Chai Vasarheyli, Chin’s wife who stays off screen, directed this documentary which charts Honnold’s preparation to climb El Capitan without any ropes.
The filmmakers’ relationship with each other and their subject shape Free Solo in a way that makes it less grimly driven about the accomplishment and equally invested in the journey, its hopes and fears, and the importance of the life behind it and all that means when it is risked before all who love you. The movie definitely gave me the sense that it would prefer for Honnold to quit than continue and die, and his community acts as affirming breaks to any cavalier impulses that he may have that don’t safeguard his life while simultaneously encouraging and supporting him in order to suppress the negative, nagging voice in his head that drives him to perfection.
Free Solo is several movies in one. It is about Honnold’s life story, the history of the typically tragic trajectory of free soloist climbers, a National Geographic documentary about the history and logistics of climbing El Capitan and a making of feature about how the movie was made, which is its own separate physical and technical accomplishment. What ties all these disparate elements together is love, but not just romantic love, though it is the focal point.
Free Solo is a love story about a man’s love for his calling, his friends and colleagues’ love for this man and this calling, his family’s love for him through acceptance of his dangerous vocation without reservation, and the growing love between a woman and this man who never considered that he would find room for a woman considering that his line of work is his priority. I’m a cynical person so my first thought was a heavily sarcastic one that it was some coincidence that just as his fame rose, she happened to meet him at a book signing even though she wasn’t into climbing, and then they started dating. Ok, sure, but by the end, even I thought that they were cute together and rooted for them. Simply the adjustment to his living style was a dramatic turning point. There is also the love of nature and the world, a call to stewardship, to live simply and frugally so others can benefit from your good fortune. Do you tithe a third of your income? I don’t think so.
Ropes may not hold up Honnold, but these invisible links to love tether him to a life outside of his vocation. Free Solo depicts his multiple attempts to scale El Capitan. Comparing and contrasting these attempts can provide a great gut check for viewers about our approach to life and love, even God. Do we come to Him furtively, always in the dark, full of fear because we are acting based on shoulds instead of wants or when we approach the altar, is it filled with joy, alone and yet together, in the sun? Most important to any vocation is there some irreverent, unplanned moment to puncture the gravity and mood that makes the monumental ridiculously perfect? The psychological experience is as crucial as the physical one though the physical toil is wildly undersold. It has taken me over a year to recover from a sprained ankle, but Honnold was climbing as recent as three weeks after an injury! Just no.
The spoilsport girlfriend is a trope that thankfully Free Solo sidesteps, but it did offer an example of how to genuinely care about someone’s safety while simultaneously encouraging him. I loved that the documentary showed numerous examples of men showing concern about their friend’s mortality, and not just any men, but fellow climbers who are not as risk averse as the average audience member so their cautionary attitude comes with an extra dose of credibility. The cameraman acted as the Greek chorus for the audience as he agonizes over his friend’s progress and can barely watch. The movie also provides a memorial to the free soloists who died, which was a respectful way of underscoring the danger of Honnold’s goal while honoring the men who paved the way.
Free Solo is a beautiful film to watch. I’ve always wanted to simultaneously go to Yosemite National Park, but be able to get out of nature before night falls so this kind of experience is priceless. I wasn’t planning to see this documentary in theaters because unless it is Won’t You Be My Neighbor or Three Identical Strangers, during 2018, most documentaries leave the theater after one to two weeks. The mere fact that this documentary has been in theaters since the weekend of October 5th and has received great word of mouth is not customary. It definitely would be better to see it on the biggest screen available to fully appreciate the grandeur of its locations.
I love documentaries about people doing things that I would never even think of doing. Films are great empathy machines for people who want to engage in dangerous activities without being in danger. Even though I figured that everything worked out because of the movie’s popularity and Honnold’s subsequently released TED Talk about climbing El Capitan, I still experienced a considerable amount of tension as I watched Honnold scale the practically vertical natural phenomenon. One woman in my theater actually screamed and hid her head in her partner’s shoulder during one scene, and she wasn’t overreacting considering that we didn’t have a crucial bit of information unrevealed until the scene ended. Forget horror movies! You’ll be watching this movie through your fingers, but it is worth it.
Free Solo is a genuine adventure film, a gorgeous movie devoted to nature and the human spirit. It is perfect for all types of audiences so if it sounds appealing, don’t wait as long as I did to see it in theaters. While it may not be the best documentary of the year, it is definitely in the top three. Who knew that Honnold was the equivalent of an Alpine ibex? I will probably read his book, Alone on the Wall, which was published and circulating while this movie was being shot.