The Dawn Wall (2018)

Taking tragedy and turning it into the ultimate triumph, come along and experience it for yourself.

Original Review:

Man vs. Mountain, against insurmountable odds, this particular man was determined to take on the impossible. Tommy Caldwell understood the impossible better than most. Determined to scale the heights around the globe, he found himself (with a group of friends) captive in Kyrgyzstan. A decision that he made would change all of their lives forever, but especially his. This decision would define many things in his life, costing him more than he could have imagined. His therapy through all of the challenges was climbing. He scaled things that were challenges but it wasn't enough. In Yosemite Nat'l Park, there are multiple routes to climb on El Capitan... There was only one that was unclimbable, at least until now. The Dawn Wall, an ascent that defied even the most experienced climbers. Tommy made it his mission to find a way up. This desire became an obsession, it took over his life. There was only one way to satisfy him, and that was to scale it. It couldn't be done alone, and just when he needed it most, fate brought someone to him. Together they would do the impossible and this is their story. The blood, the sweat, the tears, all to take on the impossible and make it possible. This is that story, their story! Inspiring and exhausting, this story will inspire and ignite anyone who has a passion for what they believe in. Whether you're a fan of climbing or not, there is something special here. Experience it for yourself!

Notes:

@kjorgeson, @tommycalswell1, 32 individual pitches, Becca Caldwell, Becca pietsch, Beth Caldwell, Beth rodden, Bligh gillies, bouldering, Brett Lowell, Caldwell's futuristic dawn wall, climb of the century, Dave Turner, el capitan, fitz Caldwell, free climbing, Gail jorgeson, he cut off his finger and got better after that, if you're heartbroken throw yourself towards an impossible wall, Ingrid Caldwell, john branch, Josh Lowell, Kcra 3, Kelly cordes, Kevin Jorgesen, Kyrgyzstan, magic mushroom climb, matt-jones, Peter Mortimer, pitch 15 the traverse 5.14D, poudre valley hospital, Terry Caldwell, the best big wall climber ever, the dyno / loop 5.14b, the first couple of climbing, the house climb, the long run climb, the Mecca of world rock climbing, the push, the racetrack of climbing, Tom Evans, Tommy Caldwell, wet streak, what's the ethos in climbing, wino tower, worlds hardest down climb, you instantly have 3000 feet of exposure under your butt, zodiac climb

[00:00:00] Hello again. What an adventure we are having this week as we are really interrogating these climbing movies. Now, you may be wondering, it's like, okay, are these getting boring? No, there's nothing boring to these movies, even in a row. It's like these ones, they each stand in and of themselves. They are they're uniquely just detailed enough in their own way that they stand out. I had one person say to me when I was talking to them about this one last night, it's like, when you've seen one, you've seen them all. I'm like, no, they are quite different. And this one actually might take you by surprise. This one's actually taking place in our backyard, at least if you're from the United States, that is. This movie actually takes or this documentary actually takes place in Yosemite National Park and what Tommy Caldwell is sharing with us. He's the main climber in this movie, but when he was younger oh, before I get into that, I want to go ahead and touch on the whole thing. This one came out in 2018. This one is the highest rating of the three movies that we are talking about today. It did also get a guilty rating for just honestly. Again, some of the content that's shared in this is not the most appropriate for younger audiences. But the score that we gave this one, I'm going to make you wait till the end. I am letting you know. That is the highest scored of the climbing movies that we've been talking about this week. But you're going to have to wait to find out what I gave it. I do want to share with you what I was just kind of getting into a second ago, tommy Caldwell and a bunch of his friends were kind of traveling all over the globe searching for these impossible climbs. And when they were in one of these areas climbing, they were actually taken as captives in Kurzakhstan. I know I mispronounced that. So it was literally a fight for their life. And they had to do some things that they could not really figure out how to get past. And once they got home, the only thing that gave them any solace was climbing again. [00:02:10] But he just couldn't find any satisfaction just in the normal climbs anymore. So he was determined to climb the impossible. He was going to attempt to climb the dawn wall in Yosemite National Park. Now, if you have ever been to Yosemite, you're familiar with what this is. If you've never been there, feel free to look. This is like one of the steepest and smoothest rock faces in all of Yosemite. It's one of the steepest faces like this anywhere in the country. And basically, this was deemed an impossible climb by expert climbers all over the Was. This was as impossible as it gets. [00:02:59] But he was like, okay, I survived that. I can survive this. Or at least we hope so and it's just one of those ones. [00:03:08] This one will have you literally cheering as you're watching it, and it will have you crying as you're watching it. It takes you all over the place, and you feel what he feels and you see what he sees. And I cannot even imagine doing anything like any of these climbs, but what he pulls off here just well, my husband and I ourselves were out at Yosemite, I think, in 2015. I think. I'm trying to remember the year, but we were out there and it's like I remembered seeing this. And so when I saw this movie, it's like I could imagine that because I had seen this rock face with my own eyes. And like I said, even if you haven't seen this with your own eyes, there is just something about and like I want to share with you the review that I had written, and then I will share with you the score that I gave this man versus mountain. Against insurmountable odds, this particular man was determined to take on the impossible. Tommy Caldwell understood the impossible better than most. Determined to scale the heights around the globe, he found himself with a group of friends, captive and kurzakstan. Sorry. I knew I was going to mispronounce that. A decision that he made would change all of their lives forever. But especially his. This decision would define many things in his life, costing him more than he could have ever imagined. His therapy, through all of the challenges, was climbing. He scaled things that were challenges, but it wasn't enough. In Yosemite National Park. There are multiple routes to climb. On El Capitan, there was only one that was unclimable, at least until now. The dawn wall. [00:04:58] An ascent that defied even the most experienced climbers. Tommy made it his mission to find a way up. This desire became an obsession. It took over his life. There was only one way to satisfy him, and that was to scale it. It couldn't be done alone. And just when he needed it most, fate brought someone to him. Together, they would do the impossible. And this is their story. The blood, the sweat, the tears, all it took to take on the impossible and make it possible. [00:05:36] This is that story, their story. [00:05:40] Inspiring and exhausting, this story will inspire and ignite anyone who has a passion for what they believe in. Whether you're a fan of climbing or not, there is something special here. Experience it for yourself. [00:05:58] Like I said, this is just one of those ones that just really stood apart. I will give you a hint. This actually ended up on my top ten list of 2018. This was one of the ten best movies I saw that year. You're now wondering what the score is that I gave it. I gave the Dawn Wall a 7.75 out of ten on the deputy scale. Now, you may thinking, okay, what's so special about that. She's given movies other sevens with the range of movies that there was at the time. This one was one of the best movies at that time that I had seen. So I'm not saying that I have adjusted my scores in any way or shape or form. I'm still true to the deputy scale. I created it and I stayed true to it, even when it's hard to do. I really hope that you have enjoyed these three climbing movies. If you've ever been a fan of reality TV, sports, adrenaline rushes, anything of the sorts, these ones are going to get your attention because they're documentaries. These are their actual true stories. It's not a movie being made of their story. This is actually their story. And the same with all of these movies with the Alpinist and with Maru and with this one. So, like I said, if you've ever been a fan of anything like this, check these out. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another Thursday. Thursday as we are coming in with another one of the Saw series for you. And of course, this weekend we will have the new releases up. So I truly hope that you're enjoying these programs. Please, like subscribe and share if you are, and I will be back tomorrow with something special for you. Bye.

The Dawn Wall (2018)

Show Notes

Episode Transcript

Other Episodes

Abigail (2024)

Arrival (2016)

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (2021)