On release day, I went to see the 2019 Oscars Best Documentary, " Free Solo . "
Actually, I wanted to write this article when I read it, but at that time, I was almost incoherent because of the excitement, and what I wanted to say crossed and revolved in my mind, like a flying elves.
I really have so much to say about this film, its record, its record object, and the human spirit he showed in the event. I think it's almost unbeatable as a documentary.
One. About records.
I have also watched many documentaries before, some of which show the leisurely life in the pastoral fields, such as "Four Springs" and "The Fruit of Life", and some which express a certain event and reflect the social reality, such as "The Day, the Sea", "American Factory", "The Fruit of Life". "Shame of Japan" and "Stealing Yourself", some of which explore the life trajectories or fragments of characters, such as "Looking for Sugar Man", "Sakamoto Ryuichi: The Finale", "The Theory of Everything", "Rose Life" and "Ruan Lingyu", some of which show a certain art form and are quite There are some casually radiating resonances such as "The River Sings" and "Face, Village", and there are many documentaries expressing natural features and environmental protection themes, such as "Blue Planet", "Earth Pulse", "Dynasty", "Ocean" and "Dolphin Bay". ..
And when I was watching the end of "Free Rock Climbing", I thought to myself: As far as the subject matter of documentaries is concerned, none of the previous films can compare to it.
The Emirates Rock with a vertical height difference of nearly one thousand meters, when the film recorded Alex sticking to its wall and spreading his limbs or panning or climbing, I almost felt a bit of a throwback-he was more like a monkey, pure and fearless, Standing in the vast world. This film records such a thing through his bare-handed climbing of El Capitan: after thousands of years of evolution, today's human beings can still do such a thing, with the will, courage, control and Determination; it is precisely because of evolution that humans can do such a thing. It is difficult for monkeys and apes to reach the top of Emirates Rock like this. Even if they have this ability, they are not like Alex. I know what I am doing. What, I know what to do, and I'm doing it, warrior consciousness.
Lonely sticking to the rock wall, the voice-over is the concern of friends, the camera focuses on a warrior who is moving like a monkey, his eyes glowing, the mountain wind is whistling, and the rocks are silent. Thousands of years of poetry; just like the ancient apes in "2001 A Space Odyssey" threw up the bones of the beasts, and in a blink of an eye it was a spaceship in the vast universe, human beings have unparalleled self-discipline, love and determination. Struggling to climb, despite all the difficulties I will go, I will strive to reach the top. They just recorded such a thing. Alex is great, and their record is just as great.
When Alex stood on the top of the mountain, I almost felt that it was on behalf of all of us. There is probably a word that can accurately express this emotion, that is, "with honor". He starts in the wee hours, the extreme flat, the monster crack, the side kick, the Endurance Corner, the Teflon Corner, and finally the summit, and it's an immortal image—because it's quite possible, even after ten years of preparation, the film The end is still a hero's dirge. I almost heard God roll the dice when Alex switched fingers, changed feet, adjusted his weight, and kicked sideways - that's the kind of thing that, no matter how well prepared you are, it's still up to you in the end. A little bit of luck, and the moment the balance tilts slightly to the lucky side can be successful. I don't know what Alex was thinking at the time, the thousand-foot cliff, the two ends of life and death, is that kick. I guess that at that time, people would not think about anything, just do that action and step over; they only have the rock wall in their eyes, and there is no life and death. What does life and death have to do with me?
There are a lot of scenes where Alex fails to fall with a side kick while being protected, so I was particularly concerned about that side kick. But I think Alex should have a higher probability of success than falling in this link, but the film doesn't show too many scenes of his successful side kick. The film presumably wants to create tension, and my more important basis is that I don't think Alex is reckless. This brings me to the second part I want to write.
Two. About Alex.
This video is so full of details that I love.
Alex lives in the car every day and still gets up in the morning to clean up. He heard the news of his friend's death from climbing and said, "He always likes to do very challenging things, and I am not that kind of person." I think this sentence explains Alex's spirit and methodology when climbing - he Not to prove anything, not to take risks, he just loves the feeling of climbing and he's coming back alive. But this thing is really expensive, how to do it. Continue to hone yourself, reduce risks, reduce the probability of failure through strong self-discipline, execution and determination, and continuously expand the probability of safely reaching the top, and finally stand on the top.
It's a methodology for doing almost everything.
He mentioned the impact of the family environment on him - in that family, I knew that what I needed to do was to keep striving for perfection. This spirit is needed in life to be outstanding and successful. Some people may feel happy or secure in life, but I'm leaving something fulfilling. And free-hand rock climbing is the sport that requires the pursuit of perfection the most. If a mistake is made in one place, even if it is a small flaw, all life will be lost. So I enjoy free climbing, striving for perfection, that pursuit of perfection, the thrill of not going wrong.
So, he is not really an adventurer, he is more like a craftsman. What he is looking for is not the heroic arrogance that stands on the top of the mountain, but the perfection, the pleasure of controlling oneself in the seemingly invisible grasping points and gaps, making precise movements, and launching a shock to perfection. His rock climbing, like a craftsman carving a fragile gem.
This is by no means something that can be done with courage alone. As the world's number one free rock climber, courage is definitely only the bottom brick. He shows strong self-discipline in the film, trains himself without mercy, studies all difficulties like an engineer, and refines every step and even every adjustment of the center of gravity, not even like a traditional image of a brave man— —He is calm and rational, preparing his climbing like a perfect answer sheet.
And that's what true courage and determination means. True bravery is to stack all rationality into a space where there is no error, to mobilize all calm and walk through a narrow door calmly.
I love him so much. He wrote in the climbing diary that recorded every step, the ring finger for the thumb, the fingers, the left foot for the right foot, the point... remember every step. Finally, I added a sentence, trust intuition.
Trust your intuition. After recording every step of subtle adjustment in detail, it turned out to be such a sentence.
At the end, the thousands of rock walls, the birds passing by, and the howling wind left a clean and pure intuition on him. It was the next step he took every time he encountered a similar situation in the past. It was a glimpse of the next dent in the crevice of the rock, which gave him the intuition that he leaned on for the last climb.
How dazzling.
After Alex reached the top, he couldn't contain the joy in the corner of his eyes, and said: What a journey. It's a worthwhile trip.
Yes, What a journey. I sincerely hope that no matter what happens in the future or what happens to you, you can exclaim what a journey when you look back.
Even I think, even if Alex didn't succeed in the side kick and fell off the cliff to die, he was still a brilliant life. That's what he had to do at that moment, what's the difference between life and death? Ordinary people don't have that love and determination, and they live for decades in compromise. How has these decades been compared to that moment? Death is just a consequence of that moment, I might come back alive or die there, but that doesn't matter, what matters is that I'm on my way now.
So Alex said, I'm not obligated to prolong my life as much as possible, and I'm not obligated to give up rock climbing in exchange for possibly living longer. I deeply agree that life is nothing but the time we live in, and since we can choose between watching a movie at night or bartending, we can also choose when to give up that time. What's more, Alex didn't give up anything, ordinary people seemed crazy, and he just repeated all the moves over and over again, he wanted to climb that sunlit mountain more than anyone else. Ordinary people are worried, recorded, amazed, and hindered. He turned that love into steps that walked on the edge of the razor one by one, but executed them without regrets.
What a journey. That's all. No ecstasy, no high-spiritedness, the director asked him at the top of the mountain, "What are you doing this afternoon?" "Do your daily practice," Alex replied.
So I would like to quote the sentence "On the Road" here: The truly unruly souls don't care, because they have a king-like pride in them.
This pride is the light in Alex's eyes. The source of light is his unparalleled self-discipline, will and execution.
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