Whose Life Is Not a Free Solo?
I rarely watch films and even more rarely write film reviews, but today I will write a review that is not quite a review. I call it that because less a review than a reflection: after watching the documentary "Free Solo," I combined it with my own life experience and felt compelled to write.
"Free Solo" won the Oscar for Best Feature Documentary at the 91st Academy Awards. It truthfully records American climber Alex Honnold's ropeless ascent. Alex loved climbing from childhood, especially free solo climbing with no protective gear at all—a kind of climbing that each time feels like gambling with one's life.
To pursue this sport requires both excellent physique and climbing skill. His dream was to free-solo El Capitan, the 3,000-foot monolith in Yosemite National Park—a sheer wall of rock where one slip means plunging to a shattered death.
His family and girlfriend wanted him to abandon this crazy dream, but he refused. Yet he was not reckless; although he did not fear death, he did not treat his life lightly. To achieve the dream, he trained himself again and again. He climbed El Capitan with protection over sixty times, familiarizing himself with every point on the route, before finally attempting the free solo. On June 3, 2017, he conquered El Capitan unassisted, taking 3 hours 56 minutes, and realized his dream.
People who dislike climbing may think him mad—to risk his life for a hobby, challenging the limits of human endurance, seems to many not worth it. As he prepared for the ascent, news reports repeatedly described free solo climbers falling to their deaths from sheer walls; some of those who died were people he knew. But none of this deterred him; he still pressed forward. Simply so as not to be the next person to fall, he trained extraordinarily hard.
We may think such a life too risky. But looking back at my life at my age, I feel that anyone's life is a risk—for us humans, surviving on this planet is no easy thing. Those who are always lazy and pleasure-seeking may feel others' risk-filled lives are not worth it, yet are they not themselves taking another kind of risk—wasting their years?
Moreover, I do not know about others, but I do know that among my childhood friends and classmates, those who did not work hard now pay the price of their youthful laziness. Those who were once arrogant and domineering have even paid with their lives. So when we laugh at others' risk-taking, perhaps before long we ourselves will become the laughingstock.
To succeed in free solo climbing, one must hone oneself and pursue perfection; failure in any single detail costs one's life. At the same time, one must master one's emotions. When doctors examined Alex's brain with modern equipment, they found nothing wrong, only that although his amygdala was normal, it required extremely strong stimulation to activate—meaning Alex did not easily experience fear, frustration, or other negative emotions; he was an extraordinarily calm person. Precisely because of this, Alex was not easily frightened, nor did he act foolishly.
I recommend my readers, especially my patients, watch this feature documentary. Fighting cancer and free solo climbing are really quite similar: one wrong step and you are shattered. But the infinite scenery lies at the dangerous summit. If, like Alex, we can stay calm, carefully analyze the pros and cons of every treatment, try cautiously, and control our emotions, there will come a day when we win the fight against cancer.
Indeed, for me personally, is the road I am walking not another kind of free solo? Every kind of work that challenges human limits is essentially no different from free solo climbing. We all risk being shattered; we all need caution, countless trainings, self-improvement, and repeated self-transcendence. Only thus can we break through human limits—and human civilization advances precisely by such incremental breakthroughs.