The movie is about Alex Honnold, one of the world's best free solo rock climbers. Free soloing is when you climb up a rock face without any equipment whatsoever - there are no ropes, just a bucket of chalk on his back and some really good sneakers as he uses his fingers and toes to seek out minute crevices and shimmy his way up a sheer granite cliff. As one climber describes it in the film, the sport is like seeking an Olympic gold medal, where the only other alternative is death. Either you make it, or you plummet with nothing to save you. It's utterly nerve-wracking to behold, and in this documentary, Honnold is seeking to climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, a feat that no one has ever achieved.
The death-defying nature of this climb is of course the main attraction, and the final part of the film when he embarks on the climb is the most heart-in-your-mouth viewing imaginable. It's not just you as the audience who feels this way - the filmmakers themselves are in agonies of anxiety as they watch Honnold climb. One cameraman simply turns away and refuses to watch. And that is the most intriguing part about this film. There's a whole community of climbers who love and support Honnold, and Jimmy Chin, one of the directors, is terrified that by filming this climb, he may inadvertently affect Alex's concentration and lead to his demise. Honnold himself is less preoccupied by the notion of dying, but is mainly concerned about dying in front of his friends - if he's gonna fall off El Capitan, he'd rather do it alone than make his friends watch.
Much like Meru, the movie isn't only about rock climbing, but also about the emotional backstory of the climber. The dynamic between Honnold and his girlfriend is extremely interesting, considering that he's a man who lives in a van and seeks death-defying stunts on a daily basis, while she would like a house and for him to stay alive. At one point, he has a functional MRI scan that reveals his amygdala, the part of the brain that elicits the fear response, simply doesn't activate as much as an average human's, which explains how he is so calm about his free solo climbs. But as we delve into all the preparation that goes into making this climb, it is very clear that this is not just a lark. The man is extremely diligent, climbing El Capitan numerous times on ropes and furiously journalling the exact combination of footholds, handholds, and climbing moves he needs to make at every step of the climb to ensure he is safe. He isn't going to do this climb until he feels 100% prepared, but that doesn't make it any less agonizing when he does do it.
Free Solo is brilliantly shot and compellingly told, highlighting the physical mastery that this feat requires but also the emotional and mental elements that go into free soloing. The relationships between Honnold and his climbing team and his girlfriend are wonderful, because here is a man who isn't great with the emotional stuff, but has still managed to find his tribe and gain their love. Watching Honnold scale El Capitan is awe-inspiring; but watching his friends watch him is just as compelling. It is frightening, exhilarating, and magical filmmaking, and I'm ready to watch anything else that these filmmakers make, though I have zero desire to ever climb a mountain.
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