The Dawn Wall - A Review
On Wednesday, during its one night nationwide theatrical release, I had the privilege of seeing The Dawn Wall, Sender Film’s much anticipated film documenting Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson’s mission to free climb El Capitan’s Dawn Wall in Yosemite Valley.
I just moved from Los Angeles to Sacramento this summer and am relishing in the fact that I don’t have to make dinner reservations, can get a seat at a brewery, don’t sit in traffic and can dependably reserve a campsite somewhere nearby on a Thursday before the weekend. With this attitude I didn’t preorder my ticket for the 7:00 pm showing. It was sold out when I arrived. I pulled up my phone in the parking lot and checked out the situation of the 10:00 showing. Three tickets left. I bought one.
This is to say that The Dawn Wall isn’t your typical adventure documentary. The quality of the film, the media fascination during the climb and gravity possessed by Caldwell himself are all nearly unmatched in the genre and folks across the country have taken note. According to Caldwell’s Instagram, 60,000 came out on Wednesday.
The film tracks Caldwell’s upbringing and his meteoric entrance into professional climbing. It follows his expedition to Kyrgyzstan where a harrowing kidnapping and escape deeply modified his personality and life and presented him to the world outside of climbing. It details his first romance, marriage and its demise and explains how all this led him to the project of climbing the Dawn Wall, a project that lilted between passion, obsession, distraction and pointlessness.
Tommy is the obvious protagonist. It’s his project and his movie. But Kevin is much more than a supporting role and the filmmakers do an excellent job conveying that.
Tommy’s ex-wife, Beth Rodden, was his exclusive climbing partner for nearly a decade. When they split, he wasn’t just isolated emotionally. He didn’t have a climbing partner. Hearing about the Dawn Wall project, Kevin cold called Tommy to ask if he could help and Tommy told him to meet him in the Valley. I had no idea this was how the team came to be, much less how alone Tommy was when Kevin reached out. It was a super touching aside and helps define the essence of the film. The climbing is utterly secondary to the emotional belaying we do for one another in life.
To me there were two essential parts of the film that stood out. The first was Kevin’s battle with pitch 15. Even knowing what happened ahead of time, it’s excruciating to watch. In fact, the amount of press Pitch 15 vs. Kevin got at the time of the climb adds to the sinking feeling one gets watching it back in HD. I remember refreshing blogs three times a day, reading updates on every major news site, and finally texting my wife ecstatic that he’d actually sent it.
The other moment came during this tribulation, when Tommy reached Wino Tower. Watching him linger on the ledge, you could see his visible shock and discomfort: standing on solid ground for the first time in nearly two weeks, knowing his seven-year project was nearing conclusion, knowing he would succeed but recognizing an absence of exuberance. He didn’t know how to feel and could only think about Kevin. In Tommy’s words, he went into full support mode at that moment.
Those were the words in the voiceover. The words in the actual scene were so charming, relatable and raw that I was laughing through tears. For all the drama, danger and remarkability in the climb, a fifteen second exchange in the tent, a few words of dialogue stole the show. You go because you love Tommy the climber and you leave understanding why so many deeply love the person they know.
Especially because of the significance of Wino Tower, I wish the film had tangentially discussed Warren Harding and his first ascent of the Dawn Wall. I think explaining Harding’s style would have helped illustrate the significance of free climbing the route more than it would have complicated the story for non-climbers. Beyond that, I have no complaints.
The Dawn Wall is a rock climbing documentary, but I left the theather thinking about my father, my friends, my wife and my aspirations. I drove home thinking about things I’ve suffered through, vulnerability, and the pride of continuing to exist through it all. I thought of accomplishments, my joys and how much of myself and others is required to be happy.
It’s Chekhov with a chalk bag.
I encourage everyone to see it when they can.