Movie Report "Cycling to Win"

written by a cycling friend...

Wired to Win

Following on from recent cycling movies such as "Hell On Wheels" and
"Overcoming", the latest one to come our way is the IMAX production,
'Wired to Win - Surviving the Tour de France'. Its basic plot follows
the 2003 Centenary Tour de France (arguably the world's most gruelling
sporting event). In following the peloton, the film brings to the
audience some appreciation of the intensity of the sport, the struggle
to cut through physical and mental barriers, and the sheer highs and
lows of this elite sporting event. As cyclists, most of us are
instinctively attracted to such movies and their message - not
Hollywood fantasy, but real life stories that we see unfold on SBS
every July; where the friends and foe are the road, the body and the
mind.

Melbourne's cycling community, came along in droves to the IMAX
Theatre for the opening preview night on 21st February 2006. So much
so that the IMAX management lamented that they needed more staff to
cater for an unexpected inflow of patrons. Carlton Gardens is a great
location, right next door to the UNESCO World Heritage listed, Royal
Exhibition Buildings, which for a fleeting moment made me think that
it was 2001 when I was walking past the 'Hotel des Invalides' in
Paris, on the way to the Champs Elysee to witness the final stage of
Le Tour.

The film is not long - barely an hour, but you get plenty of
spectacular scenery of the Tour de France, great close ups of effort
and pain, and, for want of a better finish, local Aussies Baden Cooke
beating Robbie McEwen to win the Green Sprinters jersey on the
ultimate cycling stage of them all. The dizzy IMAX view transports
you onto the road, into the ride and over the alps, with so much
impact, that it leaves you more than a touch giddy and awe-struck at
times.

So far so good, but this movie has more, and that is where it diverges
from being merely a cycling movie about Le Tour de France. The first
scene, as described on the film's web site
(www.wiredtowinthemovie.com) gives us an early unexpected insight. A
jumpy home movie shows a six-year-old child learning to ride his first
bicycle with help from his father. The narrator tells us, "that with
each moment, each new experience stimulates growing networks of cells
in our brains. We used to think these changes happened only in
childhood, but now we know that our brains never stop developing —
they keep wiring and rewiring themselves with every experience and
every challenge." After several initial failed attempts and even
crashes, the child begins to show improvement and confidence. Finally,
he is riding alone in a seaside park, amazed at his own
accomplishment. Then all of a sudden, the movie cuts to a full IMAX
screen aerial shot descending the steep eastern escarpment of the Col
d'Aubisque in Southern France. As the camera drops down the
mountainside, we discover a ribbon of cyclists and vehicles streaming
down a narrow, twisting, road. This, says the narrator, "is the
legendary Tour de France – a 3,400-km, three-week bicycle race that
has been called the world's most gruelling sports event, and the
ultimate test of the human brain." Yes, this movie is certainly
different. Not just a sports documentary, but also a science
documentary.

But that is not where the surprises finish. The production of the
movie has been delayed and embroiled in controversy, necessitating a
re-cast of the main on screen stars. This film was not originally
going to be about Baden Cooke going for (and winning) the green
jersey, nor about Jimmy Casper. It was originally going to be about
US cyclist, Tyler Hamilton (a former team-mate of Lance Armstrong),
when he was with the CSC team. And what a story that would have been,
for in the 2003 Tour, Tyler Hamilton had not only left Armstrong's
team but in the early stages, crashed and broke his collarbone, only
to then ride the next 20 days, arm in a sling and mind pushed through
an unimaginable pain barrier, to complete the Tour.

However, after the 2003 Tour (and after the IMAX production crew had
taken what must have been kilometres of very expensive IMAX footage of
Tyler Hamilton and his story), Tyler Hamilton became embroiled in the
centre of a doping scandal, a claim he has disputed and which is still
currently before the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). In short,
'Wired to Win' was to be called "Brainpower", and follow Hamilton
through the 2003 Tour, and educate us about the brain and it's
interaction with the rest of the human body. After his fall from
grace, the sponsors of the film became hesitant and the filmmakers
were forced to change course, and to Australia's luck, Baden Cooke and
fellow Francais des Jour rider Jimmy Casper were chosen as the new
stars of the film. There is only one short shot of Hamilton, which
left me thinking of the full potential of the movie, which
unfortunately now lies on the editors cutting room floor.

I say that not to deny Baden or Casper of their fine achievements, but
it is evident to that the producers have had to often resort to
secondary non IMAX footage, such as television footage, to complete
the movie. The huge IMAX screen clearly shows up the limitations of
this compromise and in addition to this, quite a few of the Baden
shots, seem to be re-enactments in more recent times (rather than
actual footage from the 2003 Tour de France). Not that any of this
matters too much. Whatever the case and the cut & pastes, this is a
film well worth seeing (DVD even with a Plasma screen, is no
substitute for IMAX). So get yourselves ready for a giddy ride around
France. It's a great ride. Go see it!!!


--
flyingdutch