Hell On Wheels

Synopsis: We go behind the scenes with the German team at the Tour De France, the world's most important bike race which in 2003 celebrated its 100th birthday.

Le Tour de France is, as a seasoned sports journalist in this documentary puts it, the biggest sporting event in the world. Bigger than the Olympics, bigger than the World Cup, he argues, because they are relatively anonymous feasts lumbering from place to place under the weight of their own hyperbole. Le Tour in comparison is 2500 kilometres of pure sporting Zen. Such is the passion and dedication this race inspires (and anyone who has not watched the race on SBS but seen Les Triplettes De Belleville will be familiar with its compelling aura).

Hell on Wheels will, of course, be mandatory viewing for bicycle nuts. Saner types will find some interest in hearing the participants reflecting on the ups and downs of the race and their involvement in it, but generally speaking the film does not live up to its sensationalist title.

It’s pretty easy for anyone with even a passing familiarity with the race to feel the pain of the riders as they toil at the limits of endurance day after day in front of an audience of millions. Danquart does not take us any further than this level of observational empathy. There is some archival material that is of interest but it is a proportionally small amount. And, finally, the film is largely confined to the quarters of the German team led by the legendary Erik Zabel. As these guys are daily spilling their guts on the roads of France, whatever their tendencies may be ordinarily, they are hardly disposed to do likewise for Danquart’s camera at night or on lay days. It is as a result largely left to for the camera to diaristically document the progress of the race. There is the occasional appearance of other contestants, Lance Armstrong for instance, and various other characters such as the abovementioned journalist but there is not enough of this to deepen the interest sufficiently for a wider audience. The result is intermittently, but only marginally, more interesting than watching the race itself.

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