Born to Fly

This is a very good documentary dealing with 24-year-old pole-vaulter Armand "Mondo" Duplantis from Lafayette, Louisiana. Duplantis is the world record holder at 6.24 meters, and he is currently competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics for the Swedish Team. (His mother is a former heptathlete and volleyball player from Sweden, and his father, a former pole-vaulter and Mondo's coach, is from Lafayette.) This film consists of lots of home videos of Duplantis and his family, interviews, and competition videos, all expertly woven together to create an entertaining and informative documentary. I found the many videos of Duplantis's record-setting, gravity-defying vaults to be especially fascinating!

I was waiting to see this film for over a year and it did not disappoint. I am a D1 pole vaulter for Colorado State University so I particularly enjoyed the sections of training and progress because that is what we live for. He has such a unique style of vaulting and it is beautiful to watch. The editing for both sound and video was fantastic, and I was completely engaged throughout the documentary. It also puts Mondo's personality on display, bringing humor to the film and allowing for the audience to see not only his talent in the sport but the attitude he approaches it with. The interviews with Greg Duplantis were interesting and informative as to the dynamic between him and his son as both a father and a coach. Overall, it blew my expectations away and I had a wonderful time watching.