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To watch Marc-André Leclerc climb is to witness a great artist at his most creative and expressive.
Of course, the jaw-dropping ascents that this prodigious mountaineer has completed are the result of his abilities as an athlete and as a master technician combined. Being anything less than extraordinary would almost certainly be fatal at such dizzying heights. While filming Leclerc’s preternatural calm while free-soloing some of the most dangerous mixed-climbing routes imaginable, the new documentary “The Alpinist,” directed by Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen, is the most electrifying thing about it. This young man appears to be dancing from a vantage point above us, where the rest of us would lose our nerve.
Take, for example, this early scene: Leclerc, a 23-year-old Canadian climber, scales a steep limestone wall in the Canadian Rockies until he reaches an overhanging ice section. He swings one ice axe up and over, driving its pick into the frozen splash, with his crampons scraping against the rock behind him. He drops from his perch, dangling for a few terrifying moments before gently raising one leg to keep himself steady and swinging the other axe into the ground to bring the other axe back home. In order to advance further, it’s only a matter of time (relatively speaking, of course) before you gain a stronger foothold and begin to melt the ice.
One of the documentarians, who is located far below, breathes a sigh of relief (as did this audience member). Leclerc, on the other hand, does not give up. The next day, he’s soloing the Stanley Headwall, a 500-foot crag that’s known for its exposed rock. At one point, he stows his ax in a crevice to feel the limestone under his fingers. Aerial drone footage and more immediate handheld work are used to document the climb; it is a long, exhilarating sequence that serves as the film’s experiential apex and the film’s emotional high point.
The mountains that Leclerc climbs appear to be a part of him, as he moves effortlessly through their granitic spires and sparkling glacial columns with intuitive grace, no matter how impossible the situation appears to be. Each crevice, each invisible edge, and every invisible edge reveals itself under his touch, and it’s breathtaking to watch him make his way down such steep cliff faces. Ascentists frequently refer to a zen-like state of “flow,” in which one’s body and mind are perfectly in sync with one another and one’s skills are perfectly matched to the challenge that lies ahead of them. The title of Leclerc’s novel “The Alpinist” suggests that he doesn’t just exist in this flow state; it is his higher power, and he surrenders himself to it as a disciple to the divinity, or perhaps as a moth to the flame.
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Mortimer and Rosen, who own and operate the adventure film company Sender Films, are both accomplished climbers who have spent the better part of two decades documenting the sport. They make no pretense of objectivity, whether they are emphasizing the fact that they spent two years filming Leclerc or expressing their concerns about the possibility that he could have died at any time.
And alpinism, in particular, is responsible for the deaths of approximately half of its ardent practitioners. Even among the most dedicated climbers, the dangers of the sport are difficult to defend. Despite this, one talking head, alpinist Reinhold Messner, asserts that “if death were not a possibility, coming out would be a waste of time.” “It would be kindergarten, but it would be devoid of adventure and creativity.”
If any climbing documentary is released soon after Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s Academy Award-winning “Free Solo” (2018), it will be difficult to escape the long shadow cast by its subject, rock climber Alex Honnold, who has become something of a cultural icon. To their credit, Mortimer and Rosen don’t even make an attempt, having Honnold introduce LeClerc as if he were personally endorsing our decision to shift our attention away from the previous documentary and toward this one instead.
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“Can you tell me about a climber who has impressed you recently?” In the film’s opening minutes, interviewer Tim Ferriss poses a question to Honnold. “This kid Marc-André Leclerc,” he says, his begrudging respect for the youngster evident in his tone.
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And it is in large part because of the young age at which Leclerc accomplished his most life-threatening feats that he is such an intriguing blank slate to work with. “The Alpinist” goes back in time to fill in the blanks of Leclerc’s early years, attempting to pin down what it was that made him into a world-class climber. However, aside from noting that Leclerc was diagnosed with ADHD and exhibited an addictive personality, which led him to experiment with drugs for a period of time, the book makes no definitive conclusions about what drove him to this particular cliffhanger.
When compared to his own more athletic background, Honnold believes Leclerc has a more spiritual approach to climbing, which he finds appealing. This is generally supported by the magazine “The Alpinist.” Climbing is a physically demanding sport, but it is also a psychologically demanding one. It is for this reason that climbers refer to routes as “problems” before embarking on a journey to resolve them. To Leclerc, on the other hand, it appears to be a powerful stabilizer. He is, paradoxically, at his most grounded during the middle of his ascent.
Early in his career, Leclerc scaled walls in complete secrecy, and the film “The Alpinist” gives the impression that he would have preferred it to remain that way. In interviews, he maintains his modesty and avoids the camera. Leclerc’s mother, as well as his girlfriend, fellow climber Brette Harrington, and an ever-changing cast of famous alpinists, provide extensive commentary that both details the dangers of his high-adrenaline pursuits and brings the scope and magnitude of his accomplishments into sharp focus, as does the film itself.
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Around the halfway point, Leclerc himself goes dark, causing frustration for Mortimer and Rosen. For a time, they are unsure if they still have a film and are concerned that Leclerc’s most recent triumphs, which have been captured on other climbers’ social-media feeds, are taking place entirely behind closed doors. Eventually, they come to an agreement: Leclerc will complete his new climbs on his own, then return with the filmmakers at a later date to film them. It wouldn’t be a solo performance for him if someone else were present, he says.
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During these types of situations, you begin to resent “The Alpinist,” which attempts to capture what is, in essence, a personal universe. Climbing is the purest form of transcendence for Leclerc, and he is a shrinking violet on the ground and a force of nature on the mountain. This makes perfect sense once you realize that climbing is, to him, the purest form of transcendence. What is more, regardless of their intentions, Mortimer and Rosen’s camera elicits in Leclerc a sense of self that is not only absent from, but also at odds with, his artistic medium.
“Free Solo” grappled with a major ethical dilemma when it came to filming Honnold’s impossible free climbs: “What if he falls?” the filmmakers wondered. Honnold, on the other hand, was a willing subject, exuberantly charismatic despite his frightening dedication to his craft. (This was a contributing factor to the problem; the directors filming him were concerned that their presence would distract Honnold or encourage him to overextend himself. “The Alpinist” encounters a variety of questions as a result of Leclerc’s distinct style of mountaineering and climbing. For starters, who stands to gain the most from continuing to film Leclerc, who has expressed a strong disinterest in having his exploits chronicled?
To reveal too much about the plot of “The Alpinist” would be to discredit certain structural choices made by the filmmakers, though climbers in the audience are likely to be aware of the direction Leclerc’s story is taking at this point. As a sincere and wonder-filled tribute to a fellow climber, Mortimer and Rosen’s film is, in the end, the most successful of their efforts. Moreover, even if it is risky to glorify a sport as dangerous as alpinism itself, there is no denying the heart-pounding thrill of witnessing Leclerc in the zone, chasing an impossible dream and, on his own terms, touching the sublime.
Select theaters are now showing the film.
For more personality quizzes check this: Witnesses Quiz.
