Film

The Alpinist

Name: The Alpinist
Genre: Documentary, Adventure
Released: 2021
Cast: Marc-André Leclerc, Brette Harrington, Alex Honnold, Reinhold Messner, Ueli Steck

A hushed, vertiginous portrait of Marc-André Leclerc, a climber so private he barely told anyone before soloing some of the world's most dangerous alpine routes. Shot with visible awe by filmmakers who kept losing track of him, it's less about record-chasing than about a strange, serene relationship with risk. For anyone who's ever wondered what it looks like to have no need for an audience.

TMDb rating

7.8

If you liked this

Free Solo2018

Alex Honnold, who turns up in The Alpinist too, climbing El Capitan with no rope. The tension is unbearable even though you know how it ends, and the filmmaking is stunning.

But It won the Oscar and everyone's already seen it — you may be looking for something less obvious.

Meru2015

Jimmy Chin and Conrad Anker attempt one of the hardest mountains on earth, and the film is honest about failure, ego, and grief in a way most climbing docs avoid.

But Heavier on talking-head interviews than pure vertigo footage — more about the psychology than the spectacle.

The Dawn Wall2017

Tommy Caldwell's story of rebuilding himself, literally and emotionally, before free-climbing El Capitan's hardest face. Warmer and more emotionally generous than most of the genre.

But The backstory takes up a lot of runtime before you get to the climb — patience required.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Grizzly Man2005

Same question as The Alpinist — what does it mean to seek total communion with something that can kill you — but Herzog refuses the film's serenity, making the obsession feel disturbing rather than beautiful.

Werner Herzog's documentary about a man who lived among Alaskan grizzlies until one killed him. Herzog's narration turns obsession into something eerie and philosophical rather than heroic.

But Herzog openly disagrees with his subject's worldview on camera — this is not an admiring portrait, and it ends badly.

Touching the Void2003

A survival story so extreme it barely feels real, told through reenactment and interview with the men who lived it. Punishing, gripping, unforgettable.

But It's more disaster-and-survival than pure climbing craft, and genuinely upsetting in places.

Valley Uprising2014no page yet

A gleeful history of Yosemite's climbing outlaws and misfits, full of archive footage and outrageous characters. Gives context for the culture Leclerc came out of.

But Broader and scrappier than a single-subject profile — less intimate, more mixtape.

14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible2021

Nimsdai Purja's absurd, joyful attempt to climb all fourteen 8,000-metre peaks in seven months. Big personality, huge stakes, relentlessly entertaining.

But Glossier and more Netflix-produced than the scrappier films on this list — style over introspection.

Mountain2017no page yet

Willem Dafoe narrates this visually overwhelming meditation on why humans climb at all, set to orchestral score and IMAX-scale footage. Pure sensation.

But Almost no plot or character — it's an essay film, not a story, and some will find it thin.

Sherpa2015no page yet

A corrective to the Western-hero climbing narrative, centring the Nepali guides who do the actual dangerous labour on Everest. Sharp and quietly furious.

But More about labour politics and exploitation than the thrill of climbing — a different, tougher film.

The Summit2013no page yet

Reconstructs a catastrophic day on K2 when eleven climbers died, piecing together contradictory accounts into something genuinely tense and tragic.

But Bleaker and more confusing by design — multiple unreliable narrators, no tidy resolution.

The Wages of Fear1953

Swap the rock face for a truck cab: both films are studies in what total physical concentration under lethal risk actually looks like, stripped of music and easy heroism.

Four men drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin over rough South American roads for money. A masterclass in sustained dread that invented the template for every 'ordinary task, extraordinary stakes' thriller since.

But Black-and-white, subtitled, and slow to start — this is a patient film that demands you sit with its tension.

The Eiger Sanction1975no page yet

The same rock faces and vertigo, but run through trashy genre machinery — a reminder that climbing has always doubled as pulp spectacle, not just solemn art.

Clint Eastwood plays an assassin-mountaineer in this deeply silly Cold War thriller that still features genuinely spectacular real climbing sequences shot on the actual Eiger.

But It's dated, a little tasteless, and tonally all over the place — pure 70s pulp, not prestige cinema.