3.08.2009

Beyond the Epic Run

About two or three weeks ago I got a curious email inviting me to a private movie screening for a movie called Beyond the Epic Run. Personally, I thought this was totally cool. Here I am, writing up the random things that come into my head while running, and somehow that qualifies me to be one of the first people to see this movie. Freakin' sweet.

The screening was this past Monday and it wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be. As a runner, I was expecting a highly technical film about how Serge (the runner) and Nicole (his wife-turned-motorcycling Sherpa) ran 25,000 miles around the world over a five-year period. I thought this film would be about bio-mechanics, training, diet, how to get clean water in a country that has none, etc.--something straight off the Discovery Channel.
Instead, the documentary is an intimate portrait about the challenges that this incredible couple faced together while journeying around the world. About half of the film is footage shot by either Serge or Nicole while on the run, showing the grueling conditions and life threatening obstacles: like forging a river on motorcycle and contracting malaria.
At the core of the film you have the very human story of two people who subjected themselves to the harshest conditions in the world and lived to tell the tale. They sacrificed everything to do something no one has done before. They encountered not only physical challenges associated with health and running, but also emotional hardships, warring peoples, and a failed sponsorship.


Beyond the Epic Run isn't scheduled to open in theaters until May of this year--the version at this screening was still a rough cut, lacking some sound and video editing. However, for those of you planning to run Boston this year, they will be showing the movie there and you should definitely try to grab a seat. It is a film that will inspire you run, no matter what challenges lie ahead of you.

2 comments:

The Laminator said...

Nice review. It's interesting how we DIDN'T hear that much about what we thought the film as going to be about...isn't it? I wonder if the final version will be a bit different...

chia said...

Sweet review man, can't wait to see it!