The World's Fastest Indian
...and he absolutely WILL NOT STOP
Posted by: Gaunt, September 11, 2005 04:59 PM
What a tour-de-force performance by Sir Anthony Hopkins. The vividness of the character Burt is amazing. The fact that the man Burt Munro was a tremendous man only makes it sweeter. We are shown an iconic sort of man; a man with a dream which he pursues with the focus of a laser. There is no such thing as an obstacle to Burt Munro; there are only delays. He will ride his modified Indian motorcycle on the salt flats of Utah, and he will see how fast it can go. It would be a riskier bet to put money on the sun coming up tomorrow.
As Burt travels the huge distance from his home in South New Zealand to Utah USA, he encounters a host of people from all walks of life. He approaches them all with friendship; a ready smile and a warm handshake. Those who reject his offer are forgotten with little more than a frown of disappointment. Those who accept have their lives enriched, and often find themselves sharing his dream.
We, the audience, also find ourselves sharing this dream. Every setback is a blow, and our anticipation grows as the distance to Utah closes.
More inspiring still is the fact that this man, Burt Munro, was real. He truly built the World's Fastest Indian motorcycle, and he truly set the land speed record. And he did it again and again. One of his speed records stands to this day. Such men are rare, and should not be forgotten. Sir Anthony Hopkins has, through his portrayal of Burt, allowed that Burt Munro the human being will not be forgotten for a long time to come.
After spending a lifetime fine-tuning his bike, he broke the world record for speed.
Posted by: Task, September 11, 2005 01:02 PM
Saturday, September 10 6:00 PM RYERSON
Arriving at the theatre for this movie, there was a palable sense of celebrity in the air. When someone took to the stage, the house erupted in applause. I was more than somewhat mystified, she looked like a festival co-ordinator. It was soon apparent that the applause was for Sir Anthony Hopkins, who was introduced along with the director and along with others they came onto the stage. The house was packed because they wanted to see him and his movie, this is the first time I've seen celebrity treatment that was equal to the merit.
On with the show.
Burt Munro has achieved the Australian dream: His family is elsewhere, his shed is the centre of his life (no house, just a shed), his life focus is making his 1920 Indian go as fast as it possibly can, and he has few things to distract him from his beloved contraption.
The director (Roger Donaldson) made a documentary on the man in 1971, so this is a dramatization of his first incredible journey to Bonneville speed week.
He's a lovable old codger, entrancing everyone he comes near, and following him around the world would be entertainment enough if that's all there was. The focus of the movie though is that Burt has never been able to get his bike up to its top speed. He's enhanced it so much that he can no longer find a stretch of road or beach long enough to really get it going. He's been working on this bike his whole life, and his dream is to take it to the Utah salt flats and really find out how good a job he's done.
The man is a mechanical savant, he's spent his whole life working with vehicles and he's got an innate sense for how to get the most out of one. He doesn't know the proper terminology for any of the things he does, but what he does almost always works. His "get the job done with whatever's lying around" attitude is fantastic to observe, and the reactions of the formally educated mechanics and engineers who see it... those are even better. It's this attitude of his that makes him utterly unstoppable, you can see the obstacles that rise up in front of him just get blown away because he's totally unwilling to give up.
This movie is just too damn good to not get theatrical release. When it does, you want to see it. If New Zealand never produces another excellent movie it'll be okay: this one alone puts them way over quota. 8 )