Dear reader,
yesterday I thought: which
movie am I going to review tomorrow?!
Then, unrelated to that,
purely because I like Jonny Lee Miller in “Elementary” and wanted
to see him him in other roles, I watched “The Flying Scotsman”.
All right, I've seen him also in “Trainspotting” and “Hackers”
before. So I don't only know him from “Elementary”.
The Flying Scotsman. A
flying Scotsman? Oh no, I don't want to watch fantasy like that
tonight. Okay, let's see what the movie is about. Aha! Based on the
true story of the Scotsman Graeme Obree (Jonny Lee Miller), who loves
riding his bike and sets a new world record – with a bike he build
on his own! A bike, which consists of parts of a washing machine.
Now, that does sound quite interesting. It does have a dark side to
it though: Graeme has moments of depression and attempted several
suicides.
In the movie Graeme
is married to Anne (Laura Fraser) and the two have a child. In
“real”life the two are divorced now and in 2011 he had a “coming
out” and revealed that he's gay, as The Guardian for example
reported:
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2011/feb/02/graeme-obree-cycling
As a child, he was bullied
by other boys and one Christmas Graeme's parents gave him a bike for
a present. He used it to get away from his bullies at first, but he
enjoyed riding his bike in later life, too. So it's not very
surprising that after he has to close his cycle shop, he starts
working as a bicycle courier. While working there, he meets another
courier, Malky (Billy Boyd), who's equally enthusiastic about bikes.
When Graeme wants to set a new world record, he hires Malky to work
as his manager. Because he builds his bike himself, sponsors of
expensive bicycle companies fear for their money, so the Union Cycliste
Internationale do their best to disqualify Graeme and make life
difficult for him. But Graeme is creative and ambitious enough, to
give them parole.
The film spares us many an
amplified story telling and cliches and shows the enthusiastic biker
Graeme Obree and his ambition. That certainly makes a movie well
worth watching for other people, who enjoy riding their bike. The
only sad bit about the film is that it starts well, and later seems
to just rush through Graeme Obree's life. The childhood and beginning
with Malky are in part very humorous. Then again he's just sitting
there doing nothing at the harbour or at home. Seemingly depressive
phases. (Today he's diagnosed as bipolar or manic-depressive.) But
then he gets on his bike again and then the film ends. A bit sad for
a film with such a good start. Especially worth mentioning for those
daring to watch the film with the original audio, is the convincing
Scottish accent of Jonny Lee Miller. Jonny Lee Miller was born in
Kingston upon Thames, England, so truly a different accent.
The Flying Scotsman, for
me, is a film well worth watching, despite the weaknesses towards the
end, especially for bicycle fans (and fans of the Scottish accent).
Quite worth watching and maybe also motivating for the viewer to get
on their own bike a bit more again. We don't have to set a new world
record though. Enjoy the ride!
Until next blog,
sarah
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