I remember talking to my uncle about making his movies and TV shows over the years and the dangerous scenes I had watched in some of his productions.

His stage name was David Bruce, and he was in 72 movies, multiple TV shows with the Cisco Kid, the Lone Ranger, and other made-for-regular runs. It only bothered me that he was the sissy to the star heroes. But I watched them all.

Years later, I asked him about some of the scenes where it appeared the star was in physical danger in acting out the part. He laughed and explained that the stars got doubles to do the scene, but often the less important actors did their own stunts. He did mention that they never put an actress in any danger. Of course, this was in the 40s and 50s, when the women often got lesser roles, seldom being the star of the show.

But times have changed a lot from then. The entire movie or show is often based totally on a female star. So, I wondered if anything has changed in the women getting a double in scenes of some risk. Then I read about one new film, Apex.

I had read that there was a most exciting new movie on Netflix where Charlize Theron played the principal part of a woman seeking adventure and often danger. I decided that it was not the kind of movie to watch with my granddaughters, so I watched it alone one night.

I do not want to spoil the movie for anyone because if you can stand thrill after thrill and gut-wrenching terror, you have to see it.

Theron stars as a grieving rock climber who travels to Australia to find some peace and forget the other part of the movie when a mountain climbing partner falls to his death. She chooses to travel alone and to kayak a dangerous path of mountain streams with rapids and waterfalls.

The scenes of her paddling through these incredible rapids have such close-up shots that, in my humble opinion, could not have been shot using a double! The scenes never left her face and profile in the scariest of scenes, including a rollover and her righting the kayak.

Events continued as she needed to escape from the river for her safety. The only way was to climb the towering mountains that surrounded the river on all sides. Her character, Sasha, is put through physical efforts as did Theron as the movie was shot. I was totally impressed in spite of hanging on to the arms of my chair as I watched her climb with closeups that defied there being a double replacing her on these perilous stages up the mountain.

One scene had her free-jumping off a cliff 30 feet high into the waters of Ginninderra Falls near Canberra. I had to learn some more of what parts were really hers in the wild, physical, heart-pounding presentation. What I learned was even more than I had first thought.

On the fourth day of filming, she took a plunge from a 30-foot ridge into six feet of river water and had to do it 8 times. Her comment was that as she jumped each time, she thought to herself, “I can’t believe I just did that.”

After the jump into the water to escape from a deranged pursuer, she had to get to safety by scaling a 52-foot-high rock wall in the Glenbrook Gorge near Sydney.

She related that she only had one safety line that was holding her. The crew and director had decided that they couldn’t build anything from the top to save her from falling, as it would clearly show in the filming.

“I climbed that last bit completely by myself without anyone pulling me up. I ‘ve recalled that moment so much because it really isn’t acting. It is the most realistic part of my physical performances that I’ve ever seen. This is the most awesome thing that I did for a movie. “

When Sasha takes a moment at the top to catch her breath and realize what she has just done, her face is shot close-up with the scratches and blood from her survival. Theron discloses that there is no acting with that shot. This is exactly how she felt after what she had accomplished, not with a double but her!

More interesting is that Theron has said that this wild film came at the right point in her life, as she had been struggling in her private life and feeling somewhat out of control.

She related that she spent four months in Australia with this film. “I came out of this movie feeling just lighter, realizing that there’s only so much you can really control in life.” She finishes that thought with a nice bit of wisdom. “Like nature, prepare the best you can, and then the rest is going to just happen.” Well said by a true adventurer.

If you have a stronger than average tummy, this is a movie that will make you see what happens when one loses control of the situation but must act the best and strongest one can to survive the moment, the day, or the rest of your life. Charlize Theron brought that home to me.

· Dennis Marek can be contacted at llamalaw23@gmail.com.