*Free Solo* is a National Geographic documentary film about the top professional rock climber Alex Honnold and his attempt at climbing El Capitan, a granite wall over 900 m tall in Yosemite National Park, California, without ropes or any other safety gear whatsoever other than his climbing shoes and his climbing chalk bag. That type of climbing is called free soloing. Honnold has said he spent a whole year practicing climbing El Capitan full time with ropes and received a lot of help from his climber friends.
*Free Solo* is a close portrait of Alex Honnold that features the man himself and his friends and loved ones. Honnold is an unusual individual. When he gets a brain scan in an MRI machine, it is shown that his amygdala (responsible for fear) shows markedly reduced activity compared to normal subjects. Honnold is a man who loves taking on seemingly impossible challenges and solving hugely difficult problems with life and death at stake. His approach is extremely methodical. Honnold says he wants to be a great climber instead of a lucky one. Still, what he does is extremely dangerous and amounts to one of the greatest athletic feats in history with two possible outcomes: an olympic gold or death.
Here's a trailer of the documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urRVZ4SW7WU
