Free Solo (2018)

Alex Honnold is a crazy free solo climber. Alex Honnold is a free solo climber, and that is crazy. Alex Honnold is crazy, so he free solo climbs. All true statements. This documentary from National Geographic is a character study of a madman preceding the main attraction, the first and only free solo climb of El Capitan at beautiful Yosemite National Park. The camerawork, filmed by drone and by professional climbers/cameramen hanging off the face of the rock is stunning. There are some really incredible shots. And I appreciated that they also discuss the ethics of filming a free solo climb. It adds pressure to the climber, who has no ropes, who could fall at any moment. There are many points along the route where he is barely even hanging on. The stakes could not be any higher. Honnold is quite a funny and charismatic subject. I admit, I fell asleep a little around the one hour mark. I wanted to get to the main show, which does deliver.