At age 31, free climber Alex Honnold became the only person to ever scale El Capitan—the iconic, 3,300-foot rock wall that rises up from California's Yosemite National Park—without ropes, a harness, or any other protective equipment. More than a flirtation with certain and grizzly death, Honnold's freestyle feat reveals plenty about the psychological forces behind risk, fear, and passion. Widely considered the world’s greatest surviving free-soloist, Honnold naturally makes for a compelling biopic subject. Luckily, he wasn’t the only one ascending "El Cap,"the rock formation found on Mac screensavers around the world, on that fateful June 2017 day. In tow were a crew of filmmakers who also happened to be pro climbers—but ones who enjoyed the luxury of ropes. Free Solo, the resulting documentary, premiered at last month's Telluride Film Festival to considerable fanfare—both from the climbing community and from those who'd never in their right mind get vertical and defy death. That's likely because this film, which follows Honnold's two-year-long quest to prepare for his feat, isn't about climbing so much as it is about fear, about overcoming fear, and about those forces within an adventurer that could inspire such high-stakes pursuits. |