Friday is usually the day to talk about videos, but a couple of videos released within the past couple of days warrants a break in format. The first is the long-awaited movie about Adam Ondra and the other is latest offering from the crew at Louder Than 11.
The Wizard’s Apprentice
The Wizard's Apprentice
I’ll spare you the gushing reviews you may have read elsewhere, but suffice to say that filmmaker Petr Pavlicek took something that would be hard to screw up—a movie about one of the world’s best climbers—and did a good job with it.
The documentary style film chronicles Ondra’s meteoric, yet at the same time very steady rise to the top of the climbing world. Old footage of Ondra climbing as a kid and interviews with his parents and others close to him give the viewer a good insight into the fact that while Ondra is supremely talented, his success is as much a byproduct of hard work and dedication than anything else.
Smaller stories are woven throughout the 1 hour 40 minute movie—onsights and hard repeats in the Frankenjura, winning the 2009 Lead Climbing World Cup and hard bouldering in Switzerland—but much of the movie focuses on Ondra’s efforts to climb his two hardest routes to date at the time of filming: Marina Superstar (5.15a/b) in Sardinia and Golpe de estado (5.15b) in Siurana. While there is a lot of footage out there already on the internet from this time period, much of which was shared by Pavlicek in the prolonged run-up to this film’s release, the extended format of the movie helps provide additional context beyond what was shown online.
Like I said, I think the film would have been better served if it had been released sooner since so much has happened in Adam Ondra’s climbing career since filming was finished for this project. That said, the film does provide a great opportunity for the viewer to get a glimpse into the life of one of the most unique talents our sport has ever seen. If you’re reading this website odds are pretty good that you’ll like the movie1.
Website:
Cost:
- €16.00 or about $20.82
Trailer:
Park Life
Park Life
Do yourself a favor and block 30 minutes out of your work day day and check this video out.
Website:
Cost:
- FREE – Watch the movie right here
Trailer:
- Just brace yourself for a few a ton of wobblers and you’ll be all set. ↩
Narc you’re being far too kind/delusional. As a film, The Wizards Apprentice is horrible. He took the most compelling subject in our sport and mad a boring and disjointed film thatvdrags horribly. Releasing it any earlier wouldnt have made up for this shortcoming. Imagine my surprise when i had a group of friends over to watch what i thought would be the climbing film of the year, only to find the movie terrible and so boring and long that i was asked to turn it off before it finished. Sure i can still get value from watching because im obsessed abd can find enjoyment watching ondra work randon routes, but as a film i woukd struggle to give this movie 2 stars.
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That is too bad to hear, but I and many others will end up buying it anyway just for the footage, I’m sure.
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Eh, I just watched it and totally disagree. I was interested in the film from beginning to end. I’ve seen pretty much every climbing movie ever made, and this one easily holds up against the best.
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I completely agree with you. Really disappointed. Terrible narration throughout which ended with him saying “if everyone had a bit of Adam in them, the world would be a better place.” What a load of crap. How has that got anything to do with what Adam Ondra? The whole search for an 8c boulder concept is bad, considering he put that on the Internet and not in the film. People need to get over this grade obsessed shite.
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I do agree it was a little strange how focused the filmmaker seemed with grades. Obviously they are an important part in the story of Adam’s progression but it seemed over the top. “Will Adam climb his fist 9b?” “Will Adam get his first 8C?” Makes it all the more funny that in 8a.nu’s review they talk about how the movie made them forget about grades which is hard to believe since the whole movie is about grades and the difficulty of the climbs is what makes it interesting.
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I actually thought it was fascinating, the way the movie discussed climbing grades. Through the Huber interview, Ondra was presented as a vital figure in climbing, one who, through his effort and insight, brings a bit of stability to the entire nebulous concept of climbing grades. The movie doesn’t just show him on 9b’s all the time, but also on many, many easier climbs. After watching the video, I’m convinced of Ondra’s obsession with climbing (going to work on the overhanging bouldery 9b project when Golpe de Estado was snowed out, when there wasn’t a single other climber out in the whole area), as well as his skill and thoughtfulness.
Progression in climbing IS about grades, period. The ascent through the grades is the story of every successful climber. We got to see the carefree, wild childhood of Ondra in the video, but that quickly transitioned into a life of hard work, with the goal of progressing at least a grade a year. For a climber who is now widely considered the best in the world, and specifically one who is trying to bring some order to the chaos of climbing grades, how can you expect to watch a movie about him and not have it spend a great deal of time talking about climbing grades?? I am just stumped as to how somebody can be surprised and/or upset by this.
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The Wizard’s Apprentice is one of the best climbing films I have seen, on par with the Dosage and Master’s series’. While the social commentary feels a bit odd for a climbing film, it is short lived (3 sentences). The footage is amazing and the thought that went into the pacing and editing really makes for a great story. The significance of Ondra is really brought to light by Alex Huber in his commentary.
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It was far from terrible, like some people would apparently have you believe. One flaw was that it feels outdated at this point. As Narc pointed out, Ondra has accomplished so much more since it was filmed. And the narration was a bit odd at points, with some interjections straight from the ego of the filmmaker about how climbers are better people than non-climbers. Other than that, the movie was quite entertaining. Quality footage of the best climber in the world. The best part for me was watching Ondra piece together a truly fucked sequence for the beginning of ‘The Story of Two Worlds.’
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The bouldering segment was pretty crazy. Going from hard boulder to hard boulder with split tips and minimal rest. Sending some with ease and failing badly on others. Climbing both versions of Dreamtime back to back. Repeating The Dagger with seeming ease. Kid is pretty good.
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Hate to be a downer, but Park Life pretty much confirmed what I’ve believed all along: I have tons of respect for people whose goal it is to climb hard and almost none for those who have it as their only goal.
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They should have left out the comments about “struggling to make rent” and eating PB&Js for a month. No one wants to hear privileged climbers whining.
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I don’t think you know what “privileged” means.
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The Ondra film suffered from having no footage from Ondra’s ascents last spring at Oliana and Chilam Bilam, but other than that, it was excellent. Also, remember that it was over a year after Jumbo Love was filmed that we finally got “Progression” – why it takes so long for these ascents to reach us I don’t really understand.
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It definitely takes time to put these things together, but much of the footage in Wizard’s Apprentice was from 2009.
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i didn’t know if i should buy this vid after these comments. but i loved it. im a pretty hardcore climbing freak, who almost watches more videos then i climb (i know) … i understood ondra way more after this, he is a ridiculously passionate athlete. he doesnt let the “scene” get in the way of his determination, its all for him. i highly recommend it
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Did anyone think the narrator in WA sounded like Josh Lowell from Big Up?
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It seemed to me that the narrator was a non-climbing person who was just given a script to read. I think Petr wrote the script (whose English is not perfect) and the narrator simply read what he was given.
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I’d say more he sounded more like Mortimer…
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Ondra seems like a reflected guy, but his antics/screams when failing a project really gets to me. When watching the film I had a vision of supernanny swooping in on a rope and slapping some sense into him 🙂
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http://rockandice.com/news/1775-adam-ondras-tantrums
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I actually agree with many of Andrew’s points yet I still enjoyed the movie. So…
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I thought that park life was one of the best things I’ve seen from LT 11. I’ve seen lots of their stuff that i did not enjoy but i thought that did a solid job
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I am really, really tired of the constant churn of hard climbing films. They are pretty on the surface but most lack any real substance or depth.
I know there are real people in these films, but they’re not often given the chance to show their personalities, instead repeatedly trotting out the ‘taking it to the next level’ mantra.
TWA is the opposite. It’s not about Adam’s absolute hardest climbing, but takes the time to show the background and process as he tries to climb his first 9b, and it’s all the better for it. It is inspiring because it shows the hard work and dedication he’s put in to get there, there should be more films like it.
Andrew Bisharat should be ashamed of his apoplectic rant of a review. TWA is not perfect, but it’s shortcomings could have been addressed in a dignified manner rather than what was almost a personalised attack.
Oh, and to all the people complaining about the grade talk in the film who then immediately follow that with complaints about the lack of hard climbing … pot / kettle.
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