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Hell On Wheels Director: Pepe Danquart Rated: M Mercury Cinemas, May 21 until May 29 The Tour de France is the world's biggest sporting event, eclipsing the Olympics and the soccer World Cup for the international interest generated. It is the longest and most gruelling cycle race and the athletes competing are deemed to be the fittest men in the world. For an unbelievable six years in a row, the race has been won by US rider Lance Armstrong, but he, like all the other contenders, is reliant on a team of elite cyclists dedicated to countering and checking other competitors, allowing him to slipstream to victory. Then there's the entourage of masseurs, strategists, technicians and others supporting them all. On the eve of the annual 2,500 km race, this film offers an opportunity to get inside one of the teams and get a better idea of the high-speed 'chess on two wheels' nature of the race. The documentary crew are embedded in champion sprinter Erik Zabel's 'Team Telekom', riding on their bus, lurking in their hotel rooms and joining them at breakfast before the day's work begins. The legendary courage of riders is typified in this 2003 centenary race by Tyler Hamilton, a rider who continues to compete despite a broken collarbone. Of course there's all the spills and the stunning scenery that the current peloton of over one hundred riders whirrs past but there's a historical perspective on the event too. 'Hell On Wheels' is a brilliant fan-flick for road-racing enthusiasts but will leave the casual viewer and the uninitiated only slightly less baffled about how the highly complex event unfolds to choose the winners from the pack of undisputed heroes comprising every competitor that rolls across the cobbled finish line back on the Champs Elysees in Paris.  |
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