Monkey See Monkey Do
Producer Hot Aches
Reviewed byEd Douglas
DateWednesday, 9 December 2009
Rating
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Despite C&F's rating, there's much to recommend buying this disc. Paul Diffley's film about disabled climber Kev Shields offers a compelling portrait of a man determined to overcome the challenges facing him. We see Shields soloing and climbing on gritstone, and also preparing for his first E6 headpoint, Jahu in Glen Nevis. The footage of a man climbing this kind of grade with only the stub of one hand is excellent, but it's the interviews with Shields that give the film its depth. He seems a complex character.
But I couldn't help wishing the film was longer than just twenty minutes. I wanted to hear more from him about his life and what he's needed to overcome to achieve what he has. There were lots of questions still in my head by the end of it. How did he lose much of his left hand? Was he born with just a thumb, or did he suffer an accident? Shields also talks about suffering epilepsy. Again, did he develop this as a child or later? What does his family think of his extraordinary talent and courage? What does he do for a living? Where does he live?
Diffley deserves credit for taking the subject on, and has produced a creditable film, but he having found a fascinating subject, he could have taken more time to develop it and deepened our involvment.
The other films on this disc are of varying quality. Slate Monkeys features three very different climbers climbing in the slate quarries. Matt Segal is a garrulous American who gushes about everything, Hazel Findlay, the true star of this film, is a young British trad climber who casually trots up the E6 Rainbow of Recalcitrance. The third of this disparate trio is the ubiquitous Johnny Dawes, who has the good sense to keep his mouth shut and look enigmatic. The whole thing works in its randomness and oddity.
The other two films, Little Big-Walling in Madagascar and Hey Presto seem rather hurried and at times confused. Hey Presto is the more appealing, having two strong characters at its centre, Sonnie Trotter and arch-belayer Cory Richards. Trotter overcomes debilitating heat to do a trad ascent of a Squamish sport route but I never got the sense that I was watching something important. The Madagascar film didn't come close to the quality of Single-Handed and dragged down the overall appeal of the disc.
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