Valley Uprising (2014)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Instant Favorite.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Super extensive documentary on the evolution of the Yosemite climbing community. Great film. My only criticism was that they skipped from the end of the Stone Masters era to the emergence of the Stone Monkeys in the late 90's and 2000's. I started climbing in 1991 and there was quite a bit being done to elevate hard standards in the late 80's and early 90's by the likes of Croft, Osman, Suzuki, Skinner, Piana and more but they moved past this era in the film. It was maybe not a particularly "dramatic" era in climbing history but that was where the sport really became "mainstream", if you can call it that, which is definitely historically significant.

First off, out of the three reviews here, one gives this doc a 3 star rating and complains about the lack of still shots and zooming in/out effects and that unless you have ADD or like movies that are cut like commercials then this movie is terrible. Disregard that review (and the awful grammar) and read this and the other 2 reviews. And then just go and watch this film! I am not a rock climber and have hardly any experience whatsoever. I am however a huge outdoor sports guy and have been for as long as I can remember. I am also a filmmaker. And this movie was nothing but amazing to watch and I enjoyed it from both perspectives. This isn't a documentary about the climbers, it's a documentary about yosemite and all the amazing things that it has and continues to offer to so many people. It's a magical place and the interviews spin this incredible story from some of the earliest climbing days to the most recent. There is a great arc to everything. The interviews are insightful, real, funny, humbling and awe inspiring. The cinematography is gorgeous (great use of drones, gopros) and the techniques used to bring still pictures to life really add a great style. The editing is smart and well paced. The filmmakers definitely understand pacing. There's also this great injection of humour which comes from these characters that are just in love with climbing, the lifestyle and equally in love with yosemite. And the filmmakers don't shy away from it. In fact, they embrace it and it really adds to film by giving it this authenticity. But at the end of the day, it's the story that really draws you in. And in this case the love (some might say obsession) the climbers have for yosemite and for climbing and the magic that connect both are transported off the screen and directly to the viewer. It's a fascinating, humorous and inspiring film that is a must for anyone looking to watch a great doc.

Excerpt from Cinematic Codes Review: Spring 2016 Issue: for visuals see: https://anaphoraliterary.com/journals/ccr/film-reviews-spring-2016/ The Valley Uprising captures the spirit of rebellion and freedom most of us feel in our childhood but lose as we grow into careers. This is an inspiring documentary that starts in the 1950s and follows generations of mythic climbers in Yosemite Valley through to the present day. The Yosemite Valley national park had few regulations in the 1950s, which meant that climbers could live near the mountain for many years. They found food with the help of John Salathe (1899-1992), who had been climbing since 1945, and now taught the younger climbers how to forge for dinner in the park's meadows. Because they lived on the site, they could gradually climb a few feet in a given day, without feeling rushed because of camping fees or other costs. This allowed them to develop all sorts of innovations to make climbing more of a science that could be mastered for future generations. They tried to hammer in spikes into the side of the mountain. They tried large climbing parties, and going solo. A couple of generations into it, climbers could scale the mountain in a couple of hours, whereas the first climbers needed over a year to complete the vertical climb. In the last few decades, free climbing without harnesses, robes and other safety measures has become popular, as well as cliff diving or gliding off the top of the mountain and then landing with a parachute. This is a very education description of the progression of the climbing sport and I was surprised to find that all these innovations happened at Yosemite.Fig 4 - Pioneer Yosemite valley climbers Fig. 4. Pioneer Yosemite valley climbers, resting in the middle of a climb.The climbers give very honest explanations for their motivations: "None of us expected to have a job. We were going to be hobos forever, and that was the extent of it." Without intending to cash in, at one point they found out about a plane from South America loaded with marijuana crashing on top of one of the peaks. They worked together to retrieve the pot and then used or sold it at a profit that afforded the bulk of them a comfortable life away from the mountain that kept them from continuing to live as hobos. A taste for money encouraged some of the climbers to court media attention and to compete in climbing tournaments for money. So that some ended up leaving Yosemite to pursue these goals.But new generations kept coming because Yosemite remained one of the most challenging climbs in North America: "Ballsy stuff to get up there, like you're going to the moon or something…" Later park rules restrained climbers to only being allowed in Yosemite for 7 days out of a year, which forced climbers to avoid troopers by sleeping at the side of the road outside of the park. Great climbers kept coming back to the park because this was where a climbing hobby could become a career: "The idea of devoting your life to climbing didn't exist anywhere else…. Only through climbing can you find yourself, bullshit like that…" The film is made up of archival photographs and videos, as well as new interviews with pioneer climbers. Photos are animated and combined with interesting narration and music that makes this an interesting watching experience, even for those who have never even climbed a wall in a gym.Fig 5 - John Bachar Fig. 5. John Bachar, south Californian, climbing Yosemite.I was pretty shocked that the climbers confessed to doing acid, pot and alcohol during climbs, but then again perhaps somebody has to be intoxicated to go up a mountain, risking death. In fact, at least one of the climbers described did end up dying: John Bachar (1957-2009), a south Californian climber who invented the Bachar ladder. He had dropped out of UCLA to start climbing full-time from the 1970s until his death on July 5, 2009 at the Dike Wall in California. He was certainly extremely charismatic in his youths, and his relatively early death in this sport added a realistic, bitter and tragic note to an otherwise uplifting uprising.Fig 6 Fig. 6. Lynn Hill, pioneer woman climber going for a record.The story of how Lynn Hill trained to become a top, international award-winning climber by practicing at Yosemite should give something girl-power inspiring to the female viewers. She might have bigger arm muscles than the men in the film, and she mentions that she had zero body fat at the top of her game. It is easier to imagine how humans once climbed trees when somebody watches somebody like Hill speeding up a mountain without a harness.Title: Valley Uprising Directed by: Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen Writer: Kathleen McGlaughlin, Peter Mortimer Stars: Peter Sarsgaard (narrator), Alex Honnold, Yvon Chouinard Genre: Documentary Running Time: 86 min Release: 2014

if you have attention deficit disorder, or you were raised with the ability to watch preview like or commercial like edits every 2 seconds, and non still camera shots with zoom in / out effects, the content is OK, otherwise, just watch TV , as it is of poor quality with any plot line at all IMHO. apparently i must fill up 10 lines of text. I'm not sure why that is. I said what i needed to say. this is not worth watching. IMHO.if you have attention deficit disorder, or you were raised with the ability to watch preview like or commercial like edits every 2 seconds, and non still camera shots with zoom in / out effects, the content is OK, otherwise, just watch TV , as it is of poor quality with any plot line at all IMHO