Free Solo: big rocks, bigger entertainment
If heights make you queasy then Free Solo is not going to be your cup of tea. The thrilling and breathtaking documentary follows professional climber Alex Honnold in his quest to free solo climb the 3,000 feet high El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park. Yes, free solo climb, as in climbing without a rope or harness to catch you should you fall. Not a stressful feat to watch at all! Over the course of this film we get to know Alex on both a professional and personal level. It’s inspiring to watch someone work towards their goals without hesitance. Alex is endearing, funny, brutally honest and one of the most real subjects of a documentary I have seen in a long time. We also get to see his personal relationships develop as he embarks down this path. It becomes a nice respite from intense climbing scenes to see a softer side of Alex when he is around his girlfriend, family and friends.
The climbing world was not one I knew anything about before this film. Watching the doc and learning about Alex and the world of climbing is both fascinating and interesting. As to be expected from a National Geographic documentary, the visuals of this film are stunning. Yosemite is breathtaking in itself but to see it through Alex’s eyes is quite the experience. You are right there with him as he makes his free climb and it is so stressful that my palms were fully sweating by the end. While I won’t be climbing rocks anytime soon, I’ll happily watch Alex climb them any day.