As one would expect from a National Geographic documentary, “Free Solo” would be an impressive cinematic achievement, even if it didn’t detail the motivations driving rock climber Alex Honnold to make history, by becoming the first person to perform a free solo climb of Yosemite National Park’s unforgiving El Capitan monolith.

Married directing duo Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin draw upon her record as a documentarian, as well as his experience as a rock climber, to capture cinematography so astonishing it can only be witnessed, rather than described.

What elevates this above a compelling set of sequential visuals is the directing couple’s connection to Honnold, whom I suspect would otherwise be quite difficult to profile, given that his death-defying achievements in rock-climbing seem to stem from his frustrating level of emotional remove, even from himself.

While an MRI scan reveals that Honnold’s brain is literally different from most people’s, due to an amygdala that’s less active than in most folks, his upbringing is also shown to be the source of much of his perfectionist zeal and achievement-driven outlook, between his non-demonstrative father and a mother who was, by Honnold’s own accounts, never satisfied with his accomplishments.

Affection was such an alien concept to Honnold growing up that he almost never heard the words, “I love you,” and he had to teach himself how to give hugs when he was in his twenties.

As Honnold is shown developing a relationship with a girlfriend, Sanni McCandless, and suddenly becomes more accident-prone while climbing, I was left with the uncomfortable impression that having what Honnold himself deemed the most emotionally healthy relationship he’s ever had was actually a detriment to his performance as a rock climber.

It’s a suspicion that seems to be shared not only by one of his fellow rock climbers, Tommy Caldwell, but also by Chin as director, who is clearly stunned when Honnold calls off his initial attempt to free solo climb El Capitan.

“In some ways, it’s kind of reassuring that Spock has nerves,” Chin says of Honnold, revealing how even his closest friends take his emotional detachment for granted.

As with Damien Chazelle’s “First Man,” the human toll of attempting such record-setting benchmarks is forcefully hammered home by “Free Solo,” as we see a montage of some of Honnold’s fellow rock climbers, who died doing what they loved.

Yet, as with Ryan Gosling’s portrayal of Neil Armstrong, Honnold himself resolutely refuses to contemplate the extremely mortal consequences of what he’s doing, even when his girlfriend confronts him about the fact that he could very easily die up there.

Given there were no news stories announcing howHonnold’s life was cut tragically short, I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by revealing this documentary has a happy ending payoff to what feels like a real-time recreation of Honnold’s nearly four-hour ascent up El Capitan, which had me burrowed into my seat and holding my breath nearly the entire time.

That being said, when Honnold tells a TV interviewer he’s already looking for his next challenge, the reaction shot of his girlfriend’s face leads me to wonder how much longer their relationship will last.

On a related note, a thank-you to alert reader Nan Toby Tyrell, who correctly noted my sin of omission in neglecting to mention Claire Foy’s understated yet formidable performance in “First Man.”

I like to think I’m pretty insightful when it comes to movies, but one’s perspective can always be broadened.