UKC

Hot Aches Productions premiered their latest film Redemption: The James Pearson Story at Kendal Mountain Festival on Friday 21st November. We caught up with Directors Paul Diffley and Chris Prescott to find out more about the film.


Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=69322

In reply to UKC News:

Saw this on Sunday at KMF and thought it was the best film of the weekend (and yes, I voted for it for the People's Choice Award, but to no avail). It had real drama and the arc of the story was well nigh perfect - it was like some Greek legend, with the protagonist's downfall and final redemption (great title by the way). Even the unscripted appearance of DM at the end lent an extra poignancy. You couldn't write a better fictional tale. Recommended!

In reply to Carl Smethurst:

The bit where Dave macLeod appeared round the corner was brilliant

In reply to Carl Smethurst:


I must question the books you have read at this point...

In reply to Carl Smethurst:

I saw it on Friday and was very impressed. It must have taken a lot of guts for James to offer himself as he did, and it's a great story, told with considerable honesty and humility. And Caroline comes across as a terrific person.

In reply to UKC News:

Just watched it. Lovely film. Personal opinion of JP has risen of course, (not that i think he should give a shit) Was always of the opinion that he was probably a good lad (because he was a Matlock lad) but had ego problems, as I did until..........well....) Loved the love story bit as my mrs hated me when she first met me, so i could totally relate to that! Just, f*cking good on him!

Found it maybe even more humbling than that film of Daniel Woods new routing with that Japanese dude. Brilliant, well done to all involved!

Would love to know if the 'Urban myth' that James went down Slack Hill ( a big steep hill between Matlock and Chesterfield) on a Micro-Scooter is true.....

In reply to UKC News:

I've never understood the problem. He got a couple of grades wrong. So what?
It was never in dispute that he was, and is, a superb climber.
I don't get it.

In reply to simes303:


Nor did I. He always came across to me as quite humble in the videos of those routes. Maybe his "bad" reputation was all just clever marketing by his sponsors to that they could make a killing on his "redemption".

In reply to Robert Durran:


In the film James explains the problem. I watched it last night, really interesting film. Although the highlight for me was Jack Geldard's description of UK trad grading.

In reply to UKC News:
I watched this and really enjoyed it - is he a really good climber - yes. Is he necky as hell - yes. Does he realise that when he was a bit younger he said some stupid things, which now he's older he regrets - yes.

So hands up all those people on here who haven't made total and utter tw*ts of themselves when they were younger (although I'm sure there will be some who haven't).

Chapeau James !

And double Chapeau Dave - what a total gent !

In reply to simes303:




This.

For every post on here about what a gob-smacking line The Walk of Life was there were about 20 crowing about how he had lost all credibility, all by people who wouldn't get off the ground on that route I'll wager.

JP was decent enough to PM me at the time (and doubtless the few others who didn't join in the witch burning) to thank me for my supportive post, which IMHO shows him in a very good light and also suggests that the slagging he got was deeply felt. The only other person I know who took the time to PM a note of thanks for support in the face of 'trial by ukc' was Stevie Haston.

But anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing the film.

In reply to Removed User:


It was deeply felt. The film does highlight some of the negative comments, showing them in UKC forum style. I would guess the user names have been replaced for the film, I didn't recognise any of them. But I think it was 2009, and I didn't even climb then, let alone read these forums.

Maybe I could search the forums for the comments, and put names to the criticism!

In reply to UKC News:

It's a great film, with some brilliant footage. I think it made the point very clearly that there's nowt wrong with grading a route the grade you think it is. I don't actually think many people contested that.

What is contestable and isn't resolved by the film is the effect that sponsors had and continue to have on climbers like James Pearson. None of these films would have been made without sponsorship (which may have been a loss) and the message is fundamentally flawed if JP continues to be sponsored whilst making a film about mistakes he made in the past whilst sponsored.

I can totally see why someone would watch this film and feel sorry for JP - I certainly did. But it's ultimately a massive con if he continues in exactly the same vain as he started - Where's the redemption?

In reply to 1poundSOCKS:

Probably best just leave it

In reply to Removed User:


I just skim read the whole thread from 2008. Mainly seems to be people having a pop at each other. Glad to see nothing changes.