Dean Potter was a high-wire artist, a top-notch climber with an imposing ego. But above all, the man was plagued by persistent demons. This is the dazzling story of “The Dark Wizard.”
It is a story of a fall and a dream gone wrong. Through four episodes (aired from April 14 to May 5 on HBO), Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen’s documentary mini-series follows the trajectory of a man who made emptiness his territory. A physical, existential, vertiginous void. The one brushed by the mountaineer, sought by the elite climber, and eventually embraced by the wingsuiter, an extremely dangerous activity that involves flying with a suit.
To understand Potter, one must retrace. We see him break the speed record on the 914 meters of El Capitan in Yosemite, tackle full solo ascents – without a rope – on virgin routes, practice freeBASE on the Eiger, a technique he himself developed: climbing without protection while carrying a backup parachute. We see him walking barefoot on tightropes between two ledges, and flying in a wingsuit close to the walls to get closer to his totemic animal: the raven.
Dean Potter was crazy. But he was more than an extreme athlete: he was a spiritual being who breathes when he dances around the abyss.
“The Dark Wizard” focuses on the temptation of free solo climbing and what it reveals about a man with an immense ego and a controversial reputation. We see Alex Honnold featured in the narrative: a star climber, Oscar-winning for the documentary “Free Solo,” embodying both rivalry and mutual inspiration. The tension between the two sets the tone for Potter’s personality, pushing him to his limits.
Friends speak throughout the 4 episodes. They mention internal conflicts, spiritual questions, physical feats. A raven among vultures in Potter’s head. A man burning to shine, paying the price: friendships fading, relationships extinguishing, loneliness settling in, sometimes paranoia taking over.
Behind the quest for records, the documentary exposes what silently gnaws at Potter: a deep depressive state, the true theme of the series. The film is intense in its staging, with images that linger, providing the feeling of accompanying a man capable of the worst and the best, always on the edge of the abyss.
Dancing around the void, on his wire, with his artificial wings, with his graceful feats on rocky walls, Dean Potter is a sad man, eaten away by his multiple inner demons.
In the midst of the exploits, there is a test: finding peace. He was getting close, but the shadow wizard who dreamed of being a raven crashed on his last big jump, hitting a wall head-on in 2015 during a wingsuit flight in Yosemite. He was 43.
Behind this unique trajectory, the story delivers a poignant portrait of a raw man. Dean Potter will remain an icon, mythified by his feats as much as by his excesses. The price of the champion.
“The Dark Wizard” is available in full on HBO.
