In the age of social media, we ache to be seen. Our feeds are flooded with the mundane (I have shared photos of my brunch, so this is not a criticism), and so anytime someone does something truly extraordinary, they obviously want to share it with the world, which not only provides positive feedback, but also has financial incentives like sponsorships. So what if there was an extraordinary man who just wanted to be left alone? Who wanted to achieve great things only for their own personal benefit because the experience itself was enough for him? That’s the story of climber Marc-André Leclerc in Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen’s new documentary The Alpinist. Unlike other climbing documentaries where the conflict arises from how the climber will conquer the mountain, the conflict in The Alpinist is more existential. It’s about an unassuming 23-year-old doing incredible things and not wanting to be noticed for them. It’s about the tension between mind-boggling feats and the casualness at which Leclerc pursues them. With some stunning footage, especially from Leclerc’s headcam, we’re drawn into breathless climbs through the eyes of a climber who only feels at peace when he’s on the edge of the world.
If you ask climber Alex Honnold, the free soloist made famous with the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo, about a climber who impresses him, he’ll tell you about Leclerc. The thing about Leclerc is that while other climbers garner fame and attention for their climbs, Leclerc is out there doing things previously thought impossible, but he doesn’t care if people notice or not. If anything, he’d prefer to be left alone, doing these climbs not for the likes or the publicity but for his own peace of mind. Numerous talking heads talk about how incredibly impressed they are by Leclerc, but when he’s on camera, Leclerc seems bashful, and almost reluctant to talk about himself. He seems most at peace when he’s doing some of the most difficult climbs in the world and, if not making it look easy, then at least making it look impressive. Even if you’re not a devoted climber, it’s hard not to be wowed with what other climbers describe as Leclerc’s “pure climbing.”
I’m a sucker for climbing documentaries (climbing is one of those things I wish I could do, but I wouldn’t even know where to start other than scampering up two feet, getting winded, and calling it a day), and Leclerc makes for a fascinating subject not because of what he’s climbing (like in Free Solo or Mortimer’s previous documentary, The Dawn Wall), but because of who he is as an individual. At one point, Leclerc just kind of disappears. He doesn’t have a phone, he lives a nomadic lifestyle, he doesn’t care about money (which was surprising to me since climbing seems to be such an expensive hobby due to all the gear one would need to do an ascent, although I suppose you don’t need ropes and stuff if you’re free-soloing like Leclerc), and he doesn’t care about fame. In one of the film’s funnier moments, the directors make a last-ditch attempt to find Leclerc by sending out a fellow filmmaker to find him, and the filmmaker dryly replies, “Ah, I see you’ve lost your rock star climber.”
For some, The Alpinist made be too in the weeds of climbing as Leclerc is basically about your favorite climber’s favorite climber, and for this to work, you need to have a favorite climber in the first place. And yet if you even remotely care about this world and this hobby, you have a captivating central figure because Leclerc doesn’t seem “above” fame as much as he seems largely indifferent to it. He’s an unassuming figure doing mind-boggling things, and there’s something both refreshing and invigorating about that kind of approach. In a world where we’re all struggling to make sure we’re letting everyone else know what we’re doing, you have a guy who’s doing it for himself, which is both inspiring and, given what he’s attempting, even more confusing. If you’re someone who wonders why anyone would even attempt mountain climbing, you’ll be doubly confounded by a person who doesn’t even really desire credit for what he’s climbed.
The Alpinist is not Free Solo or The Dawn Wall, but it’s the better for it. Those documentaries are great and The Alpinist absolutely shares their vertigo-inducing camerawork of these incredible climbs. But whereas those films have no problem getting into the technical aspects of climbing and the personal struggles, Leclerc is almost a blank slate. He’s so young that there’s nothing in his past and as for the fear of death, his unassuming nature means he handles it with the same zen-like approach he handles his climbs. The Alpinist may not take you deeper into the world of climbing, but it will have you captivated by the person of Marc-André Leclerc.
Rating: B+
The Alpinist will play as a Fathom Events premiere on September 7th before arriving in U.S. theaters on September 10th.