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A documentary about Tommy Caldwell's attempts to climb the Dawn Wall of Yosemite, and also about a whole lot of other fascinating things, all of them better encountered unspoiled. I highly recommend not looking up anything about this movie, Tommy Caldwell, or anything related to either of them.
I liked this even better than Free Solo, and I loved Free Solo. It makes a good companion piece to Free Solo because Alex Honnold does his big climb without ropes; if he falls, he dies. Tommy does his big climb with ropes; if he falls, he goes back to the beginning and starts over again. And those climbing methods and outcomes are also the central metaphors of their respective movies. Tommy falls, and falls, and falls; he starts over, and over, and over.
Free Solo inspired me to take up bouldering, where you climb without ropes; if you fall, you fall. (But on to a mat, so you don't get hurt. Usually.) I watched The Dawn Wall after, in the SAME WEEK and in fact a three-day span, I broke three bones in my foot falling badly while bouldering, and was wrongly diagnosed with having had a heart attack while on what I thought was a routine checkup, and didn't find out that it was a test error for over two weeks. (Those were completely unrelated incidents; it's a long story). It was the perfect time to watch a movie about falling, and surviving, and going on.
I'll put up a spoiler post separately. Please don't spoil the movie in comments.
The Dawn Wall is available on Netflix and possibly other places as well.
I liked this even better than Free Solo, and I loved Free Solo. It makes a good companion piece to Free Solo because Alex Honnold does his big climb without ropes; if he falls, he dies. Tommy does his big climb with ropes; if he falls, he goes back to the beginning and starts over again. And those climbing methods and outcomes are also the central metaphors of their respective movies. Tommy falls, and falls, and falls; he starts over, and over, and over.
Free Solo inspired me to take up bouldering, where you climb without ropes; if you fall, you fall. (But on to a mat, so you don't get hurt. Usually.) I watched The Dawn Wall after, in the SAME WEEK and in fact a three-day span, I broke three bones in my foot falling badly while bouldering, and was wrongly diagnosed with having had a heart attack while on what I thought was a routine checkup, and didn't find out that it was a test error for over two weeks. (Those were completely unrelated incidents; it's a long story). It was the perfect time to watch a movie about falling, and surviving, and going on.
I'll put up a spoiler post separately. Please don't spoil the movie in comments.
The Dawn Wall is available on Netflix and possibly other places as well.
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I was SO THRILLED when I realized that non-climber friends (or friends who are climbers but not yet fully-fledged climbing geeks) would be able to encounter this story unspoiled.
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Omg, unreal. Okay, off to read your spoiler post.
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https://rydra-wong.dreamwidth.org/665726.html?thread=8224126#cmt8224126
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(It is therefore hugely ironic that I ended up being partly a trad climber. I CAN TIE SEVERAL WHOLE KNOTS NOW.)
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People who are already good at something when I'm the only one who isn't being held up while they all watch me try to tie a knot they've already taught me multiple times and still can't do combines a multitude of my worst anxieties into one big tangle. So to speak.
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And now here I am cheerfully taking leader falls onto trad gear which I placed myself while being belayed by another human being. This is not a scenario I ever thought was possible.
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I forgot to mention IF YOU DO THIS WRONG SOMEONE ELSE COULD DIE AND IT WILL BE YOUR FAULT.
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I had put the book on my "maybe" list a while back, but now that I've seen the movie, I'm going to have to buy the book and start reading.
I also want to say that I'm not much of a watcher of things, but the two climbing documentaries I've watched recently, both at your suggestion, have left me in a substantially better mood after watching them while wretchedly sleep-deprived and unable to enjoy most of my usual activities. Thanks!
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I've already been reccing this at Rachel, but I will add my rec for A Line Across The Sky, a medium-length film in which Tommy and Alex go on an adventure in Patagonia which is one of my favourite climbing films ever, and which is currently watchable free online:
https://www.redbull.tv/video/AP-1MQAPEZX91W11/a-line-across-the-sky-part-i
https://www.redbull.tv/video/AP-1M8AK3VKD2111/a-line-across-the-sky-part-ii
(Content note: passing use of "r****ded" as an insult and "ghetto" to mean scrappy improvisional stuff.)
Gorgeouus scenery, amazing climbing, and most of all, delightful character comedy. Totally accessible to non-climbers -- pre-Dawn Wall and Free Solo, this is the one I was most likely to show non-climbing friends because I thought they'd enjoy it.
(I hope the sleep-deprivation lets up soon.)
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Also, having watched both films and read both books, I enjoyed "The Dawn Wall" more as film but Alone on the Wall more as book.