Beverly Hills, CA – Thursday evening, I attended the National Geographic’s Documentary called Free Solo at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The film features a real close-up look at Alex Honnold’s life as an expert climber and his desire to fill a goal. It follows him and taps into the depths of how far he’s willing to go to accomplish his goal.
First, the event began with the red carpet in which we saw the producers, director, and Honnold. It ran a little behind in the beginning but once the ball was rolling everyone got through at a decent time.
Next was the screening for the movie. I absolutely loved it! I’m honestly recommending it to everyone that I know because more than anything it teaches life lessons. Free Solo is probably the one movie that has motivated me in a long time about achieving my goals. Hannold is an extremely sarcastic person who had the entire theater laughing during the screening. His significant other seemed to be a little more emotionally demanding than I expected but she definitely was on his side and supported him despite his lack of empathy.
I’ll be honest and say that I absolutely had anxiety the entire movie. The angles and camera movements are not going to go well with someone who gets motion sick and is afraid of heights. One of the things I really liked about the Producer was that she mentioned the importance of politics right now and the previews were primarily minorities.
It was so touching to be in Beverly Hills and feel comfortable seeing my people on screen standing up for ourselves with the LA Times. Change is coming and it’s a beautiful thing! What I find so fascinating about Honnold is that he’s able to do almost the impossible without the use of gear and safety ropes. His father died when he was 19 years old and he never received affection in his family, so when we see his emotional side mature throughout the movie, it was chilling.
The best thing about him is that he has a non-profit organization that he donates 1/3 of his income to every year. Once the movie was over he received a standing ovation from everyone in the theater. They did have a short Q&A session following the film but the best thing to do is to actually watch the movie.
The final event was the reception which was exciting because I didn’t know we would have the chance to eat after the event. The cuisine was standard on one side and more Asian cuisine on the other side. I made sure to visit the dessert table and photo booth as well. All in all, if I was to rate this movie, I would give it a 5/5.
I really think that this will set the tone for athletes and motivate people everywhere to chase their dreams at a more serious rate. I can’t wait to tell my family and friends about this movie because it motivated me in more ways than one. Free Solo is a must see and I’m happy that I had the opportunity to see such an amazing documentary.
