John Bachar.  Man?  Myth?  Nay. Legend.

Honest to god, I watched ‘Bachar’, an excellent biographical film about one of the US’s most famous free-soloists, a few weeks ago not knowing that the next morning Alex Honnold would pull onto the starting moves of Freerider sans-rope. As an added bonus, the documentary style film was shot and edited by Michael Reardon, another well regarded and famously bold free soloist.

For those of you at home who don’t know, I am about to share some bad news.  John Bachar passed away in 2009, after a fall in Mammoth Lakes, CA. Michael Reardon passed away in 2007 when struck by a rogue wave in Ireland.  This film was released in 2005, blissfully unaware of the tragedy to come.

That taken care of, lets talk about what this film is and isn’t.  Its not rife with action or shots of epic sends.  Its a celebration of the career of one of the few climbers to make mainstream media in his time, with interviews of the man himself, those that came before him and shaped him, his contemporaries, and those that came after.  Seeing his father speak, its obvious where John got his attitude, and not in a bad way.  Other interviewees include is brother, John Long, Bob Camps, and Peter Croft.

Watching it now, since the meteoric rise of Alex Honnold bringing free solo back to the cultural forefront, a lot of the dialog sounds familiar. The confidence, the assurance that their acts won’t spawn a bunch of copy-cats, the deep rooted concern for doing things ‘right’. What Alex does for scale, John did for difficulty – soloing 5.11 before 5.12 was established.  John pushed the limits, and his recounting of an onsight free-solo of Moratorium is enough to make anyone queasy, showing that even the best can over-extend themselves at times, and its not always the calm controlled experience people claim.  That said, in his time he was unmatched – offering $10,000 to anyone that could match him route for route for a day.  Unsurprisingly, there were no takers.

If you need a reprieve from poor climbing porn shrouded in dub-step and beanies, if you want to gain appreciation for one of the men that shaped climbing history, of if you like listening to people who are unapologetic about their beliefs and have the talents to back them up, this film is a good way to spend an hour.

Verdict: Borrow It.