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The Search For Freedom is an extreme sports documentary showing a great number of death-defying acts such as rock climbing, free-falling, windsurfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, motorcycle dardevil and mountain climbing.
I was in two minds about whether this sort of film was for me, but then on watching the trailer I was intrigued, and the full version is a constant rush of extraordinary in-the-moment shots whether in the air with a skier, going over the rapids with a canoeist, or riding rough and dangerous mountain terrain on a motorbike – this film is like all those cool shots from Grand Theft Auto videogame action sequences in one movie – and in real life!
As one commenter says: “You’re 100% focussed on what you’re doing right now. Right at this instant. This instant is the most important thing in all of your life.”
There are contributions from a great number of people, such as Glenn Singleman, a free-fall artist, who is actually a hospital doctor in the Emergency Room, and he’s seen jumping off the Trango Tower, Pakistan, the tallest cliff in the world.
Elsewhere, there’s Bruce Brown, director of windsurfing drama Endless Summer; skateboarding icon Tony Hawk, who tells of how the sport really wasn’t ‘cool’ when he was a kid; and skiing filmmaker Warren Miller adds “The basic instinct of a human being is a search for freedome, and still, the search for freedom is within all of us.”
Others state how such actions allow you to feel free, even if it’s just for one moment; while another adds: “All that holds you back is the horizon. That’s real freedom.”
The Search For Freedom shows a succession of fantastically beautiful images with slow-motion filming, and ‘breathtaking’ just isn’t the word for much of the footage shown here! Well, it IS the word, but you know what I mean.
It’s a great documentary, but die hard fans of these sports will get the most out of it, whereas for me, a tight one-hour documentary would be better.
And seeing all these people with their daredevil attitude, if you’re spending your days tapping away at a keyboard, it does make you wonder and take stock about what you’ve done with your life, especially since the most extreme sport I’ve ever done is watching snooker or playing Kick Off and Sensible Soccer!
Available on both Blu-ray and DVD, although I saw this in standard definition on a 50″ TV, I urge you to watch this in HD *and* on the biggest screen possible.
The Search For Freedom is released on Blu-ray and DVD on August 10th, as well as digital download.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 92 minutes
Studio: Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd
Year: 2015
Format: 1.78:1 (16:9)
Released: August 10th 2015
Rating: 7/10
Directed and written by: Jon Long
Cast:
Danny Way
Robbie Madison
Annie Boulanger
Ron Kauk
Glenn Singleman
Tony Hawk
Kelia Moniz
Bob McKnight
Heather Swan
Warren Miller
Nyjah Houston
Jeremy Jones
Bruce Brown
Robbie Naish
Meg Roh
Kai Lenny
Kelly Slater
Yvon Chouinard
Shane McConkey
Gary Fisher
Steve Pezman
Logan LaPlante
Tom Schaar
Chris Burkard
Rob Campbell
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.