Some climbing films are just straight climbing porn, hard sends with no plot. Others are about a concept, or a particular place, or a particular person. Redemption: The James Pearson Story is obviously the latter.  While there are many climbing films that focus on one person’s battle with one route, this film isn’t really a “climbing film” in the traditional sense.  It’s the story of James’ battle with himself.

James Pearson quickly ascended the ranks as a strong climber, excelling on committing gritstone, but also the first to ever flash V13 – he flashed 3 different V13s in Ticino in ’03!  Those advising new climbers will often tell them to build a strong base, a broad foundation as they move up.  James made his way up having made the 3rd ascent of Equilibrium, and then established The Promise and The Groove, a pair of E10 first ascents.

Around the same time, Dave MacLeod had established Rhapsody, the first E11 route.  James managed to make big links on the route quickly, and while walking away without a send, felt he knew the scope of E11.  He carved his name into the history books by going on to climb the first E12 – Walk of Life.  

And then the wheels came off the bus. As seen in Progression, Kevin Jorgenson and Alex Honnold made fairly quick repeats of The Groove(“ish”) and The Promise, respectively.  The final blow to the house of cards was MacLeod’s second ascent of Walk of Life.  Dave is a polite fella, thanked James for his contribution of another great route to the climbing world, and then expressed his opinion on the grade as an E9.  Others were not so polite – the British ethic seems to be one of downplaying and understatement, and the fine commenters over at UKC had all manner of colorful thing to say about James’ integrity, ethic, etc afterward. 

Which brings us to this film. This is more a biopic about the rise, fall, and redemption of a climber. The routes are the context by which the man bought into his own myth, but they aren’t the stars of the film.  Its unlikely you’ll watch this and be pumped to go send, but I think that’s what makes this film good. A lot climbing films drop you deep into the action, and aren’t mass-market friendly – this is a film about people, about ego, about wanting to make things right.  Instead of making your significant other suffer through Hard Grit for the 37th time, give this one a shot, it’s easily as interesting as any other documentary on Netflix, and I think it makes a good conversation starter on the social dynamics of grading.

Verdict:  Borrow It.
Available from:  Hot Aches Media