The Alpinist (2021)

Directed by: Peter Mortimer, Nick Rosen | 92 minutes | documentary

Rock climbers are known as hippies – a subculture rooted in the 1970s. The Canadian Marc-André Leclerc, subject of this documentary, has the appearance of Jim Morrison – who survived the drug years and had he been played by Will Ferrell. We watch a big kid who has just broken the steep wall speed record for the 300-foot-tall ‘Grand Wall’ in Squamish, BC. Leclerc is hula hooping as talking heads speak of him with awe and endearment.

We see Leclerc climb the aforementioned rock face at Vancouver without anchoring, like a sculpting chamois. ‘The Alpinist’ excels in beautiful images; the beauty of rock climbing comes up close and translated well, albeit occasionally throbs in the National Geographic tone. Impressive in ‘The Alpinist’ is the number of minutes of quality footage. No surprise, as the passionate Leclerc is followed by director, cameraman and climbing specialist Peter Mortimer.

Leclerc has been missing since 2018. One of his or his partner’s climbing ropes was found on a glacier in Alaska during the making of this documentary; the bodies are not (yet). That naturally makes this production extra loaded. It has been suggested that Leclerc may have suffered brain damage as a result of LSD, but those who follow him in this documentary know that a certain limitlessness has always been there, and that half of the rock climbers die in the harness.

Mortimer briefly reports on the search at the end of this loving documentary. He flew in the helicopter, and speaks with Marc’s mother and friend Brette. The story of Leclerc, although focused on the sport of climbing, is in any case reminiscent of that of Chris McCandless (‘Into the Wild’) and ‘The Alpinist’ is well worth an investment of 1.5 hours – even if you don’t like climbing.