This Dean Potter doc climbs to the top and flies in the air.
No, “The Dark Wizard” is not a new “Harry Potter” movie or series. It’s a 4-part HBO documentary series about Dean Potter, who was ambitious to become the best climber, BASE jumper, and high line walker. He was bold and versatile enough to climb some of the most famous and challenging mountains. But the series also focuses on how his competitive and ambitious nature affected himself and the people he cared about.
I’ve seen exceptional climbing movie docs like “Free Solo,” which was about Alex Honnold-the first man to free solo climb the El Capitan wall-and “Skywalkers: A Love Story,” which explained a romance between two climbers who would scale the tallest buildings in the world, illegally and dangerously. And watching this 4-part doc is just as exhilarating as if it were a movie. It’s the kind where your palms and feet get sweaty and a little fuzzy as you’re watching Dean climb and walk over great heights-sometimes without climbing equipment.
Because The first two episodes were sold out at the Boulder International Film Festival, I was only able to see the 3rd and 4th episodes, and I did catch the first two on HBO Max. I couldn’t mention “The Dark Wizard in my annual article of the festival, because I wanted to see the whole thing. But you can see my reaction in this article.
In the first episode showed, Dean was able to overcome whatever demons he faced by climbing, he married another climber named Steph Davis, he climbed Utah’s Delicate Arch, which became illegal, and refused to take medication for his mental problems. The second episode shows how he went skydiving and parachuting, nearly got himself killed while landing in the Cave of the Swallows, and we see why BASE jumping in Yosemite became illegal and how Dean changed it. In the third episode, Dean was climbing on El Capitan, and he walked on a 40 metered tightrope in China’s Grand Canyon. And the fourth episode focused on his relationship with a Patagonia mother named Jennifer Rapp, his love for his dog Whisper, and how he wanted to beat Graham Hunt’s base jumping standards.
And this was all before Dean’s tragic death in 2015, when he was flying with Graham and both crashed at Taft Point in Yosemite National Park.
I like how the theme song of “The Dark Wizard” is played to the tune of “When I Was Done Dying” by Dan Deacon, because of how it sets the adventure spirit as well as emotional weight that the real life climber and his friends went through. It basically tells it like it was. And the show tells Dean’s story like it was. Sometimes, we get the same stories, and other times, we learn things about the deceased climber and how he affected his friends and fans.
If you asked me what I thought about Dean years ago, I wouldn’t have known who he was. But after seeing this doc series at the Boulder International Film Festival and on HBO Max, I’m glad I got to see another adventurer and learn about his life. This series is a must for adventure fans.
Streaming on HBO Max With One New Episode a Week