The latest from the ever-interesting documentarian Jennifer Peedom – whose oeuvre includes eye-watering productions Sherpa, Mountain and River – joins a lineage of films about highly adventurous people partaking in dangerous pastimes. I’ve watched many of these films, including Man on Wire, about Philippe Petit’s audacious stroll between the twin towers, and Free Solo, about climber Alex Honnold’s compulsion to live, quite literally, on the edge.
And yet, I can’t recall a scene in any of them that truly explains why these often highly intelligent people risk so much, beyond the usual talk of “feeling alive” or whatever existential itch this sort of thing is meant to scratch. I’ve never felt I really understood any of them or the appeal of what they do.
