Free Solo

Free Solo (2018) is a documentary directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi — watch it online on iFILM. Climber Alex Honnold attempts something no one had done before: the 3,000-foot granite face of El Capitan in Yosemite, alone, with no rope and no protection of any kind.

The film follows Honnold for months — through obsessive preparation, through his relationship with Sanni McCandless, through psychological testing that reveals how differently his brain processes fear and reward. He has memorized every move on the route. What the cameras capture on summit day is a sequence so precise and so exposed that the crew admitted to crying through their viewfinders.

At the 2019 Academy Awards, the film took home the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Tommy Caldwell, who has his own history on El Capitan, serves as an honest, grounded voice throughout. Free Solo is not really about whether Honnold makes it — it is about why a human being chooses to try. Stream Free Solo online on iFILM.