"Free Solo" Oscar win shows cinematic potential of extreme sports

When one thinks of extreme sports, a lot of different things come to mind: things like death-defying stunts, or the sheer athleticism and grit on the part of those who are willing to put their lives on the line in pursuit of accomplishments that seem foolish to the average observer.

But world-class cinema is not among the things that extreme sports have traditionally lent themselves to. By and large, documentaries and exposures on extreme sports have been mired down by worn-out tropes including obnoxious heavy-metal soundtracks, or overbearing and unnecessarily intense narration.

But one Oscar-winning documentary set out to, and has inarguably succeeded in breaking the mold on extreme sports documentaries and producing a stunning piece of cinema that shows the potential that extreme sports have on the silver screen.

"Free Solo," which has just won the Oscar for Best Documentary, tells the story of rock climber Alex Honnold, who scaled Yosemite national park's 3,000-foot 'El Capitan' without the aid of safety gear or ropes. The documentary, directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, details the fearless grit of Honnold, who at one point lived in a van on the grounds of Yosemite.

The film paints a portrait both of Honnold's raw athleticism and of his ability to deal with the fear that comes with extreme climbing. Honnold told AFP that he "is afraid of dying," just like everyone else. Climbing is, for him, as much about managing fear, containing it, and using it to propel himself forward as it is about the sheer physical challenges he goes up against.

There are two lessons that we should glean from the success of Free Solo. The first is that compelling cinema which takes extreme sports as its subject must seek to convey the human determination behind the outlandish undertakings of its subjects, rather than relying on sheer awe at the feats they accomplish to drive the story forward. The physical feats are important, to be sure, but they are never the whole story. Films based on extreme sports should take that into account.

This is not to say that the outward pursuits of extreme sportspeople aren't in themselves commendable or impressive, but rather that they are only part of the larger picture. The motivation that drives these extreme sportspeople and that enables them to overcome the psychological aversion to (and fear of) risking one's life that all humans share in common.

The age of online video streaming has taken a great deal of the shock value out of extreme sports. The internet is full of daredevils willing to undertake seemingly foolish stunts, but what these instant gratification mediums lack is the ability to tell the real human stories behind the daring endeavors of extreme sportspeople. Cinema is much more capable of telling these stories, and the success of Free Solo is a testament to the fact that they have an audience eager to hear them.

The second is that extreme sports, while they might fall outside the spectrum of traditional competition-based events, are indeed taken seriously by the wider public. They have a tendency to be more personality driven than team competition sports (although team sports can certainly fall into that trap as well), so the general public's expectations are perfectly in line with what cinema is able to portray in its approach. Cinema is able to keep the focus squarely on the individual, where it belongs in the case of extreme sports.

The Oscar win for "Free Solo" shows us both how far sports-based cinema has come in the past decade, and how the best examples in this genre break out of the mold and endeavor tell the human stories behind the other-worldly accomplishments of the world's best athletes.

Those like Alex Honnold who are willing to put their lives on the line in order to push the limits of human ability are more than just incredible athletes. They push the limits of possibility and have a lesson to teach us all about perseverance. "This is for everyone who has courage and believes in the impossible," co-director Vasarhelyi said as she accepted the award.