Rent Free Solo (2018)

An incredible, awe-inspiring & brilliantly made/shot documentary about free climbing - Free Solo review by TB

Free climbing, meaning the scaling of mountains & rock faces with no safety equipment, is a niche but horrifyingly watchable and adrenaline-raising sport. Whilst there have been some TV programmes on it before, there has never been a standalone docu-film about one particular individual, following his journey. 

Alex Honnold is in many ways the perfect subject for a film like this. It is clear from the opening moments that he never intended to be famous or well-known, and treats the media fascination around him with a sort of bemused detachment. As someone who has spent the vast majority of his life simply being on his own, setting & breaking multiple records, he would have probably stayed under the radar indefinitely with no-one outside of the climbing community knowing about him. But this documentary has been massively successful, even winning an Oscar & propelling him into the spotlight. 

We follow Honnold as he prepares to try to achieve the first ever free-solo climb on part of El Capitan. Along the way, we find out more about his early life, as well as how he mentally deals with the pressures and strains, despite also being strangely separated from the dangers in certain ways. Honnold is also fairly open to investigations as to why that is, including agreeing to submit to brain scans examining how his mind works. There are also some lovely intimate scenes as he finds love with Sanni, who becomes in many ways the beating heart of the documentary. 

Then we get to the climb, after months of preparation & close calls. And the way it is shot is perfect: no music, no stupid tricks or media flourishes. We are just given a front row seat to one of the greatest athletic performances of all time. Huge praise must be given to the directors, who give us just enough distance whilst still keeping us close. 

An incredible documentary & richly deserving of all the plaudits that it received.

Best climbing film? - Free Solo review by JA

Loved the film so much bought the disc and have watched a few times, what a man, what a climb, and what a great real story.

Wow! - Free Solo review by HM

These guys seem nuts but a brain scan of Alex the guy about to try to scale America's most difficult climb without ropes, just fingers, chalk and feet, gives a strong clue as to why some people (usually men) can only find excitement going to the edge. Not for them getting worked up watching a football game. The excitement is generated because they may fail once and die and plenty of these risk takers have died. It isn't a career choice with a guaranteed pension!

You are with Alex all the way as his preparations sometimes miss-fire and those around him (similar guys, but not friends; it doesn't do to have an emotional connection when a friend may die any time) comment to viewers that now he has a girlfriend living in his caravan as he tours around, he has a distraction. Will she be the death of him?

The views of the climb he is to make and close up camera coverage as he attempts it, a distraction to be sure, are spellbinding and frightening in equal measure.

On the one hand you cannot help admiring these people but also feel that there is no way the risks could be worth it. However, they cannot live without it, but they may die all the same. Exciting and recommended.

Some Jaw-Dropping Footage of Free Climbers Scaling Sheer Rock Faces without ropes in this doc - Free Solo review by PV

I do not usual watch documentaries but thought I'd watch this. I'd advise watching THE WALK (2015) with it.

These free climbers must have some need to take risks to get high - I saw a TV doc years ago about UK rock climbers which showed most were depressive and needed those risks to feel alive, as their brains are like that. So I enjoyed the part of this doc where the guy has a MRI brainscan.

Not for nothing does a film maker refer to the free climber as SPOCK - he is cool, unemotional and phlegmatic to that degree, maybe aspergers/autism like his father. I wanted more background really a less of the annoying girlfriend (whose mistake caused this climber to fall 30 feet and injure his ankle and worse).

Just like free divers who hold their breath for crazy long times, many free climbers die/. One mistake will do that when you are high in the air. BUT people used to free climb a lot before it was a name - I saw 1970s footage of a scout holiday in Devon and Cornwall where the boys had ropes but the instructor climbing by them did not,. THEN there is John Noakes on Blue Peter climbing Nelson's column WITHOUT safety ropes in 1970s. Elf n safety allowed it then.

Jawdropping footage esp the last 20 minutes.

I cannot help thinking these people who do free climbing tend not to reach old age, and the deaths announced of other climbers in this film seem to back that up.

Worth a watch.

Astonishing but difficult to relate to - Free Solo review by AER

Alex Donnard knows why he was put on Earth, and to the expense of all else, he does all he can to uphold and facilitate that need. Hold up - rewind - he has set up a trust to help benefit those in need of tech in the third world. To do what he does is hard to understand, we can be awed by his achievement but what introspection there is is limited. Like a lot of athletes, it's about what they do and not what they say, so this one was a hard nut to crack. An interesting watch from a sporting achievements POV but no great shakes on the human front.