The hero behind the movie: Chinese director Jin Guowei, and the story before filming

Fredrick 2022-01-05 08:01:58

Last week, I organized my friends to watch "Free Solo" together. For our group of outdoor enthusiasts, it was really "trembling."

"Free Solo" made the protagonist Alex Honnold (Alex Honnold) a household name overnight, but today I want to focus on the story of the Chinese director Jimmy Chin, the hero behind this movie.

Jin Guowei: American professional rock climber, mountaineer, skier, photographer and film director. He has organized and led many rock climbing, high-altitude snow mountain skiing and expedition expeditions. Footprints all over the world, including China, Pakistan, Nepal, Tanzania, Chad, Mali, South Africa, Borneo, India and Argentina.

In October 1973, Jin Guowei was born in Mankato, Minnesota, United States. His parents are Chinese. His father is from Wenzhou and his mother is from Harbin. Both work as librarians. In this way, ordinary families can cultivate A world-class explorer, really exceeded many people's expectations.

Jin Guowei's family education should be regarded as a very traditional Chinese family education. "I grew up in an environment far away from adventure," the 44-year-old Jin Guowei said in an interview: "I didn't grow up in Estes Park, nor did I get involved in rock climbing or skiing since I was a kid. I only knew reading when I was a kid. "

Note: Estes Park is located north of Denver, the capital of Colorado. It is a rock climbing mecca with stunning scenery.

△ Estes Park

He is fluent in Chinese and English, and started to learn to play the violin at the age of four. He graduated with all A grades and is good at swimming and martial arts.

Hard work and humility are the themes that my father repeatedly mentioned when telling him stories.

"Father often said that after working as a sweeping monk at the gate of Shaolin Temple for many years, it is possible for the abbot to notice you," said Jin Guowei, "you must prove yourself."

The change occurred during the Jin Guowei University.

As an undergraduate at Carleton College, Guowei learned how to rock climbing and was deeply addicted to it. After graduating, he simply lived in the car and climbed in the Yosemite National Park every day. People who dedicated themselves to mountain climbing and gave up luxury life a cordial nickname-dirty ghost (dirtbag), but His parents did not support this.

"They think I have become a tramp," Jin Guowei said: "They spent the money they saved all their life sending me to middle school, then to private boarding high school, and finally graduated from a private liberal arts college. They didn't understand my choice, this It also virtually added a lot of extra pressure and self-doubt to me."

Jin Guowei was greatly influenced by the work "The Hobbit" in his early days. He said: "I like brave ideas, crazy adventures, and things I've never done before. It's very romantic, and I long for these things."

As professional climbers, skiers, photographers and filmmakers, courage, adventure and storytelling have become the three most important cornerstones of Guowei's career. In the past ten years, although the taciturn Jin Guowei said that he prefers to be the person behind the camera, he has achieved great success both in front of and behind the camera.

Brady Robinson, executive director of the Access Fund and one of King Guowei's earliest mountaineering partners, recalled that Guowei worked very hard and had a unique vision for outdoor photography.

When they were in their 20s, they often climbed together in Yosemite. Once camping on the top of El Capitan Mountain, Jin Guowei woke up early in the morning and was deeply shocked by the unparalleled magnificent sunrise. He saw Robinson’s camera on his backpack, so he picked it up and took pictures of his sleeping partner. Photo.

Robinson discovered the value of this photo and finally sold it for $500. They split the income equally, and Jin Guowei used the money to buy his first camera.

△Brad&Jin Guowei

Robinson said that Guowei has extraordinary personal charm and driving ability. Ambitious but very humble, everyone likes him very much, hopes him success, and is happy to work with him.

At the age of 23, Jin Guowei and Robinson organized his first international rock climbing expedition. They went to Pakistan's Karakoram Mountains and completed the first ascent of the granite spire of Fathi Brakk. In the process of climbing, falling rocks and ice were constantly hitting them, but for Jin Guowei, he planned this expedition, looked for funds, and came to the most remote and rugged mountain in the world to climb the unknown. The new route, recorded with the camera, there is no better experience than this.

The photos taken by Jin Guowei quickly appeared on the posters of major outdoor companies. As he himself said, it suddenly became popular.

Most importantly, his success attracted the attention of mountaineering legend Conrad Anker, who helped Guowei get the sponsorship of "The North Face" in 2001.

The following year, Conrad invited Jin Guowei to join him, and Galen Rowell (Galen Rowell), Rick Ridgeway (Rick Ridgeway) together on an unsupported expedition on the remote Qiangtang Plateau in Tibet. This story was published in the April 2003 issue of National Geographic, and Jin Guowei's distinctive photos have received widespread attention.

By publishing an article in National Geographic magazine, Jin Guowei's parents slowly began to understand and see the value of their son in this non-traditional career path. "My mother came to Washington and saw Conrad and I. Rick was giving a speech in the Grosvenor Auditorium," said Jin Guowei. "All our photos and the whole story are displayed at the entrance. It's so cool!"

In 2006, Jin Guowei became one of the first members of the Everest ski team.

In 2011, he and his climbing partners Conrad and Reina made the first summit of the shark fin on Meru in the Himalayas. The documentary "Meru" he shot as a director is internationally renowned and has won many awards.

But this is not a smooth journey from beginning to end.

Among the majestic mountains of the Himalayas, Meilu Peak is not outstanding at an altitude of more than 6,000 meters, but it is known for its steep difficulties. Its central peak is called "shark fin".

Their first attempt to climb started in 2008. However, after 16 days of climbing, a blizzard trapped them and continued for four days without stopping. This made the rations prepared in the previous plan almost exhausted in helpless waiting. .

Four days later, the weather cleared up, and they continued to march towards the top of the mountain. Only 150 meters away from the summit, the team faced a difficult decision: the sky was going to be late and there was a serious shortage of supplies. , The three people have to endure starvation and sleep overnight in an extremely cold corner of more than 6000 meters above sea level, and accidents are likely to happen. The three of them finally decided to retreat, and returned home just a step away from the summit.

What they brought back was not only regret, but also physical pain. Jin Guowei was unable to walk for several weeks and had to sit in a wheelchair.

Soon after, in a commercial skiing filming, Reina accidentally fell off a cliff. Although there was no life-threatening life after rescue, the doctor judged that he would almost never climb the mountain anymore.

Jin Guowei decided to take over for him to complete the commercial photography work on Teton peak, but a large-scale avalanche arrived unexpectedly. The avalanche carried him down, reaching a vertical drop of more than 600 meters, and then decelerated him. Pushing back to the surface again, when he was struggling to get up in the snowdrift, the broken ice froze on his waist, making him immobile, and the snow piled up behind him gradually tilted towards him.

"I was almost certain that I was going to be cut in half." In an interview at the age of 37, Jin Guowei said when he recalled the scene at the time.

But that day was obviously not the end of the Himalayan climber's day. The snow piled on his waist stopped sliding, and the avalanche ended miraculously.

The experience of escaping from the dead stimulated Jin Guowei. He realized that in such an expedition career, he would never know what would happen in the next second, and he could not control his own destiny at all.

He fell into chaos and confusion.

The opposition from his family also began to affect Jin Guowei at this moment. He didn't know if he still had the courage to return to Mount Meru in his life.

Jin Guowei's sister

But in the second half of the movie, as Rainer recovered gradually, Jin Guowei was also greatly encouraged. If you want to know what happened next, I suggest you go and watch the movie "Meru" for yourself.

Sometimes, you may be completely relieved by facing hardship directly.

Away from what I love, no matter how easy life is, it can't make up for the shortcomings in my heart.

In 2013, Jin Guowei married the director and producer Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi), his partner when filming Meru.

Elizabeth grew up in New York. Her mother was from Hong Kong and worked as an administrative job in the university. Her father was from Hungary and was a university professor. In 2003, the first film she participated in the production of "Ordinary Life" won the Best Feature Documentary Award at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, and in 2008, her second film "Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love" He has won numerous awards at major international film festivals.

On June 3, 2017, Jin Guowei and his wife Elizabeth accompanied Alex Honnold (Alex Honnold) to perform an unprotected freehand climb of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park for the first time, and produced the feature-length documentary "Freehand Rock Climbing".

Three years ago, when they learned that Alex was planning to climb the Emirates Rock without protection, they had the idea of ​​making it into a movie. However, the shooting process itself may distract Alex while climbing, which may cause him to miss.

"It's hard to imagine what it feels like to see your friend fall out of the viewfinder's field of view, fall and die."-Jin Guowei

"We don't know if the presence of the camera crew will make him fall more easily, what should we do if he falls?-Elizabeth

Even though Jin Guowei and Alex have had a shooting partnership for nearly 10 years, in the face of this difficult challenge, Jin Guowei and his wife have become hesitant. These hesitations are not due to the lack of Alex’s climbing skills. Confidence, but because of Alex's own character.

Unlike his ability to relax and relax on the rock wall, Alex has always been clumsy in handling interpersonal and intimacy due to family reasons. Facing the camera, he no longer cared about "Will I fall and fall to death", but "Will I fall and fall to death in front of my friends".

Jin Guowei and his wife later mentioned a conversation with the famous best-selling author Jon Krakauer:

Jin Guowei: I want to take a picture of Alex climbing the Emirates Rock without protection

Jon: Holy sxxt! (Fuck!)

Jin Guowei: (silence)

Jon: Whether you shoot or not, he is ready to climb, right?

Jin Guowei: Yes.

Jon: Do you think you are the best candidate for shooting?

Jin Guowei: Yes.

Jon: So if this is a climb that can be recorded in the annals of history, shouldn't it be recorded?

Note: Jon Krakauer, the author of the best-selling book "Into the Thin Air Zone", this book records the beginning and end of the Mount Everest disaster in 1996, and was remade into the movie "Everest" (Everest).

It was after this conversation that they made up their minds to film Alex’s unprotected climb to the Emirates Rock, but they set up two red lines:

1. Alex's safety is a prerequisite for everything.

2. The crew needs to make every effort to ensure that Alex is not affected as much as possible during the climb.

3. In order to achieve this to the greatest extent, the members of the film crew have been carefully selected:

Must be a rock climber and also an experienced photographer;

1. Must be able to work in a high-pressure environment without making mistakes;

2. The position of each person needs to be carefully designed to ensure that it does not affect Alex's climbing, and it is best to prevent Alex from seeing;

3. The decision of Alex must be completely neutral and let Alex make the decision.

The film crew was cautious and did not put any pressure on Alex at all. Everyone suppressed the urge to ask him "when will he be ready?"

And on the day of the actual climbing, they did not arrange close-range photographers at all on the most difficult boulder slope section of the route. They only used drones and cameras set up on the ground to shoot remotely.

"Even so, when success and failure are so close, you don't know what will break it all," Jin Guowei said in an interview.

After the shooting of "Freehand Rock Climbing" was completed, in 2018 they and Conrad completed an expedition to Queen Maud Land in Antarctica, which opened up a new rock climbing on Ulvetanna (also known as Wolf Yak Peak). route.

In fact, just before Jin Guowei planned to embark on this six-week Antarctic expedition, his father died. Jin Guowei almost gave up this trip, but in the end he chose to set off according to the original plan with a complicated mood.

In the next month, he was in one of the most awe-inspiring destinations in the world, doing what he likes and do best with a group of like-minded friends, and Jin Guowei is convinced that he has made the right decision.

"Every day I was in Antarctica, I remembered my father," Jin Guowei said: "During the climbing process, my mind often came up with bits and pieces of my childhood experiences with him. Those distant memories have all come back. ."

The following content is from an interview with Jin Guowei in National Geographic Magazine in 2018.

1. Does being a father affect the decisions you make during the expedition?

It will have an impact, but it is not decisive. Every decision is determined by multiple factors. When my daughter was 3 and a half years old, I did realize some changes. I wanted to stay with the children every day and stay together. Their attraction is too strong, this feeling is very strange.

2. How do you define your job?

It is difficult to define accurately, usually I would say that I am a photographer and director. I never think of myself as a "professional athlete", I don't think I deserve this title.

3. How do you balance rock climbing and skiing?

The differences are obvious, but there is no shortage of similarities. I have gained great happiness and satisfaction in rock climbing and skiing, and they are both indispensable to me. They keep me clear-headed, are where my career lies, are the source of my motivation, and are the best way for me to interact with my friends. Only by staying in rock climbing and skiing circles can I feel my most complete self.

4. Have you met an important life mentor on the road to success?

I have a lot of incredible mentors, and Konrad Anker is a name that must be mentioned. After I went to the Karakoram Mountains for the first time, I met him at an exhibition. He came over on his own initiative, called out my name, and mentioned the expedition I had just conducted. I was so excited at the time. He gave me the first opportunity to collaborate with TheNorth Face for commercial shooting, let me join the team, and helped me complete my first National Geographic mission.

This mission allowed me to meet Rick Ridgway, who is also my great mentor and close friend, and Gallon Rowell and David Briches are no exception. Rick also introduced me to Yvonne Chouinard, about how he inspired me, and even wrote a book.

Note: David Breashears, a famous American mountaineer who has twice ascended Mount Everest, director of the documentary "Desperate Altitude". Yvon Chouinard, founder and owner of the famous outdoor brand Patagonia.

5. Is there anyone younger than you inspires you?

The person I can think of now is Alex Hannold. When focusing on something, he is so methodical and disciplined.

6. As an adventure storyteller, what topics do you like to follow?

I am an optimistic person and like to discover the potential of people. I think a lot of meaningful stories come from adventure, because it shows to a large extent the most positive aspect of human nature. Perseverance, overcoming challenges, teamwork, and trust are all qualities that move and appreciate me.

7. What are the influences of your native family on you?

I grew up in an immigrant family, which means that I have to work hard and strive for perfection no matter what I do. There is no excuse for winning or losing. I have been studying hard since I was young, participating in swimming and martial arts competitions, and learning to play the violin. When I was a child, my parents taught me that if I want to succeed, I must work harder and devote more time and energy to practice. There is no shortcut.

8. Any advice for those who want to follow in your footsteps?

I hope I can say something inspiring, but I have to state such a fact.

I have always had noble people to help me while I was growing up, but I always believe that you don’t need to look for these life mentors, they will find you. Many people may not understand what I mean. Usually, when people want advice, their real intention is to know the shortcut to success and how to spend as little time and energy as possible to achieve the same achievements as others.

I think the only advice I can give is to work hard and invest more time, which is why Conrad and some other mentors in my life recognized me. All this can be traced back to the story my father told me about Shaolin Temple. Before the master allows you to enter the door, you must spend several years sweeping away the fallen leaves in front of the door.

It's about sharing stories that inspire people and open their eyes to a different world.

(Using exciting stories to present you a different world.)

——From Jin Guowei’s personal website: https://jimmychin.com/

If you are willing to be busy all day long, you can occasionally look up and take a look at distant mountains and stars.

(The pictures in this article come from the resource network, movie stills, and Jin Guowei's personal website)

This article was first published in the public account: Wild Child Adventure, slightly deleted.

View more about Free Solo reviews

Extended Reading
  • Adelbert 2022-03-26 09:01:09

    If only the last half hour is left, and then report a best documentary short, it feels more reasonable. Cry for Skate Boy.

  • Hassie 2022-01-05 08:01:58

    I really saw that the whole process was tense, and my heart couldn't stand it. I also sincerely admire this crazy warrior. I feel that the male protagonist is the kind of person who has no desire for material at all, but he also happens to have no desire for all enjoyment, so he will let go of himself and challenge everything.

Free Solo quotes

  • Alex Honnold: You're standing on tiny edges, small variations in the texture of the rock. If you slip, your hands can't hold you. It's just the two tiny points of contact that keep you from falling, and when you step up, there's only one.

  • Alex Honnold: My Mom's favorite sayings are, Presque ne compte pas, Almost doesn't count, or, uh, Good enough isn't. No matter how well I ever do at anything, it's not that good. The bottomless pit of self-loathing. I mean, that's definitely the motivation for some soloing.