Free Solo

What kind of person risks life and limb to climb the treacherous face of Yosemite National Park’s famous 3,200-foot granite wall--known as El Capitan--without a rope or any other safety equipment? Daredevil Alex Honnold has completed more than 1,000 solitary climbs and is thought to be the world’s greatest surviving free-soloist. Recalling an emotionally isolated childhood in Sacramento, CA, and a “bottomless pit of self-loathing,” Alex keeps a meticulously detailed journal about his mountaineering, noting every hand and foot placement. A self-confessed “dork” and “loner,” ascetic Alex eats cans of beans warmed on a hot plate and lives in a minimally equipped van. He dates occasionally but declares that he “will always choose climbing over a lady.” At a book signing for his 2015 memoir Alone on the Wall, Alex meets cheery Sanni McCandless, who shares Alex’s climbing passion. Filmed by his longtime friend/collaborator Jimmy Chin and the latter’s wife, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (who together directed Meru), this Oscar-winning documentary delves into Alex’s thrill-seeking motivations--including an MRI scan that reveals Alex’s amygdala (the brain’s fear center) requires unusually high levels of stimulation before the fear response kicks in. Alex’s troubled mother wonders if he’s on the Asperger’s spectrum, although Alex recalls that one of her favorite sayings was: “Almost doesn’t count.” As his fatalistic friend/veteran climber Tommy Caldwell notes “Everybody who has made soloing a big part of their lives…is dead now.” The film’s centerpiece covering Alex’s historic climb up El Capitan on June 3, 2017 is vertigo-inducing, awesome, and intense. Highly recommended. (S. Granger)