An Accidental Life

Has anyone watched this? Any thoughts? Pretty sure I am just gonna cry if I start to watch it.

Stream/Trailer

Haven’t watched it, but “An Accidental Life” describes my surprise origins. 

^ That made me smile. 

I haven’t seen it yet, but now on the list thx. It looks so raw and real.

It’s a heavy movie. In a lot of ways more tragic than the alpinist. It definitely makes you evaluate your motivations. 

As someone who has had to relearn how to walk as an adult it was by far the best representation of that time of my life.  The anxiety that you are going to be handicap forever is crippling (the only thought you have is how many more pain killers can I get) and I only lost total leg function for two weeks. I can’t imagine being in a situation where the certainty is almost 100%.

Also the weird humiliation of the whole thing. On one hand people treat you like a hero on the other hand your some invalid no one wants.

How are y'all watching it? Housemates and I tried last night but got dead-ended when the button said "sold out". Were we missing something?

Timothy Carlson wrote:

Haven’t watched it, but “An Accidental Life” describes my surprise origins. 

This made me realize I’ve spent my entire adult life hoping to avoid both accidental death and accidental life. 

Sam Untersee wrote:

How are y'all watching it? Housemates and I tried last night but got dead-ended when the button said "sold out". Were we missing something?

https://watch.eventive.org/bsdff22/play/61f1b69726242b0030abf334?m=1

Amazing film, hope to watch it again before the festival ends.

So so sad.. tearing up just watching just the trailer.  

Hopefully her story becomes a cautionary tale for all aspiring speed climbers.

Thanks for posting this

John Tex wrote:

Hopefully they understand the risks without having to watch the film. Otherwise they really shouldn't be aspiring to anything with any risk. 

Hopefully they do, and I think her accident chilled out Alex and Tommy at least. Has there been any speed climbing action over there recently?

Regarding the accident, it seemed to me like she was a little fatigued and made a mistake. That outcome is not specific to speed climbing and it's why the gear comes with warning labels. As to the film itself, I thought it was beautifully put together and sort of broke the mold by building up her character in some sort of procedural and chronological way. It so hard to watch at times, they really get into the Rehab and Quinn's very understandably complex feelings which make the film so powerful - far more so that someone getting their proj in a 20m RR short. 

Better than Dawn Wall? I really liked it.

petzl logic wrote:

Regarding the accident, it seemed to me like she was a little fatigued and made a mistake. That outcome is not specific to speed climbing and it's why the gear comes with warning labels. 

She was deliberately run out to save time while speed climbing.

my favorite part of watching climbing movies is being really sad

Bill W wrote:

She was deliberately run out to save time while speed climbing.

did you watch it? she had pulled a number one that was in place to protect her and then realizes she had no gear for 50’, and then fumbled to correct her mistake and plug another cam when she slips. 

yes she was running it out for speed climbing which explains the lack of gear below her, but removing the piece was a mental error maybe due to fatigue as they were kicking ass and other issues she mentioned in the film that were distracting her that day. 

There are 1000’s of reasons to fall but very few for not placing gear.  Florine had some interesting comments on the Nugget podcast on how much gear he has placed over the years. 

Another thing I saw in the movie that I had missed is that she had pulled out likely enough slack to get to the top of boot - at least.  There was a huge loop even after her impact.  She was basically soloing.  Even if she had placed more gear, it seems likely it wouldn’t have changed the outcome.  Her partner’s comment that she had communicated to Quinn that she wasn’t on belay yet seems salient - that would have f’d with me to be in her place.

Apparently the window to watch it ended yesterday. Does anybody know when it will be available to watch again?

Bryan wrote:

Apparently the window to watch it ended yesterday. Does anybody know when it will be available to watch again?

Yes I’m just a few hours too late! Please post if anyone finds another opportunity to watch. 

Mnt File wrote:

Yes I’m just a few hours too late! Please post if anyone finds another opportunity to watch. 

Here's the Facebook page for the movie. Others are asking the same question.

petzl logic wrote:

did you watch it? she had pulled a number one that was in place to protect her and then realizes she had no gear for 50’, and then fumbled to correct her mistake and plug another cam when she slips. 

yes she was running it out for speed climbing which explains the lack of gear below her, but removing the piece was a mental error maybe due to fatigue as they were kicking ass and other issues she mentioned in the film that were distracting her that day. 

She was fatigued from the speed climbing, she made a mistake because she was rushing, because she was speed climbing. She even says she was speed climbing.

The point of the movie isn't to warn people about the dangers of speed climbing, it's about dealing with trauma. Her trauma is the result of speed climbing.