Tag: El Capitan

Free SoloYear: 2018Rating: PG-13Length: 100 minutes / 1.67 hours For those who view climbing as a serious hobby, most climbing documentaries are a way to live vicariously through those climbers who dare to do something impossible. And while the plot structure of these climbing documentaries all feel nearly identical, there was something special in Free Solo (2018) that made it better than the rest. Perhaps it was the recognizability of El Capitan. Maybe it was the danger involved. Either way, Free Solo was well deserving of its Best Documentary Feature Oscar. Part of why I didn't connect with Meru (2015)—the previous film by these directors—was that I had never heard of that mountain before I sat down to watch it. Having never climbed El Capitan, I was at least aware of its significance. Knowing how hard this climb is, the premise of climbing it with no kind of safety gear is intriguing, to say the least. Of course, most climbing movies seem...