Everything about the sequence is absolutely nerve-wracking even if you know or are pretty sure you know the outcome. There is no debating Honnoldï¿ 1/2(TM)s brain works differently than most, but it is the level of transparency and care between Honnold and Chin (who is heavily featured in the doc himself) that really hammers home the contrasting feelings of the pros and cons of having the aspiration to even attempt something like free soloing, much less succeeding at it.Īt twenty minutes short of two hours the film does feel a little sluggish in parts, but the last half hour in which we watch Honnold work to make it up the 3,000 foot granite face of Yosemite's El Capitan is one of the most thrilling sequences caught on film this year there is no escaping the sweaty palms or shortness of breath.
This is countered with Honnoldï¿ 1/2(TM)s first-hand accounts of his childhood which interestingly enough tend to conflict with his motherï¿ 1/2(TM)s perspective. Chin and Vasarhelyi do as much as they can in exploring the psyche of their subject in the process disclosing there were no real emotional bonds formed in Honnoldï¿ 1/2(TM)s childhood, that his father was what might be diagnosed as autistic by todayï¿ 1/2(TM)s standards, and how this lack of affection built the Honnold that exists today. Most would look at what Honnold dreams of doing and weigh the risk versus the consequence and decide the consequence was not worth the risk (easily, I might add), but the high chance of death isnï¿ 1/2(TM)t as great a risk for Honnold as having to go through life knowing he never took this risk that would truly satisfy him. Our subject, Alex Honnold, feels no obligation to maximize his life and it is this unique outlook that intrigues us to Honnoldï¿ 1/2(TM)s journey as much as his ability to scale seemingly flat surfaces does. I have nothing to add to this and no point to make, but I was the only one who laughed out loud at this in the theater and wanted to share.Ĭoalescing the ideas of an unattainable itch that pushes an individual's drive to the (literal) edge and that of the worth of attaining that itch Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi's Free Solo presents this quandary of maximizing life in thrills rather than length. This is said un-ironically near the beginning of the third act in the documentary, Free Solo.
"That's the most magnificent crack on planet earth."
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