Free Solo climbing was never so alluring and dangerous as it is in this outstanding doc. In theaters.
The Alpinist
Canadian Marc-Andre Leclerc never found a rock he didn’t want to climb. He became one of the world’s pre-eminent Alpinists, which largely means free solo with minimal equipment. “The Alpinist,” a documentary about his climbing, is remarkable for the closeup shots of his hands, sometimes bloody, but always firmly grasping small crevasses to anchor his ascent along with cleated shoes and unusual courage. No second of the 92 minutes is lost; each is savored in appreciation of the art and craft it takes to make a first-rate doc.
Some will remember Alex Hammond in Free Solo (2018), which won the Oscar. Even he, almost speechless at Leclerc’s boldness, mixes his awe with professional reservation about Leclerc’s risks. When Leclerc scales sheer ice in unfriendly weather, none of us has to be an expert to appreciate the raw danger. As is usually the case with these bold enterprises, why someone risks it all is far more interesting than the gymnastics of climbing.
Maybe even more than his bold defiance of the danger (half of all climbers at this rare level die accidentally) are his youthful exuberance and naivete, both a part of his charm and hallmarks of young adventurers not quite out of their early twenties. Besides his liberal liking of “like,” he has no language for the negative; rather he welcomes each potential storm as another challenge. His mind and body are dedicated to sucking out life at its fullest.
Beyond that energy and abandon lies the troubling reality of death. Because he is dedicated to the use of his gifts, he does not appear to have fully thought-out what life without life would mean. Perhaps he could have used an education to indulge philosophical musing on the importance of guarding that precious gift, more valuable to his girlfriend and his mother than apparently to him. This wonder at his abandon is what kept me engaged every minute’
You can guess where I’m going with this—a spoiler if you have rules of non-disclosure even for a documentary; he dies at age 25, ironically with a companion, not solo, in an avalanche. No talking head is truly overwrought with grief because this kind of danger is what Alpinists and their families cope with.
Yet, his girlfriend, Brette, and his mother, Michelle, have a deeply-felt regret that he is no longer with them. Should they have regarded the sacred gift of life in more persuasive discussion with Marc? Could a college education have helped him move his mind to less an obsession with climbing and more a consideration of his importance to those he loves?
I do know this excellent documentary made me think more about the value of life than Netflix’s docudrama Worth did about the Victims’ Compensation Fund allocation to 9/11 survivors. Like youth’s glory that fades so quickly, Leclerc’s moment in the sun is gone, leaving tears and beautiful images, but he’s still dead.
The Alpinist
Directors: Peter Mortimer (King Lines), Nick Rosen (Real Rock 13 )
Screenplay: Documentary
Cast: Marc-Andre Leclerc, Brette Harrington
Run Time: 1h 32m
Rating: PG-13
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JohnDeSando62@gmail.com
