The World's Fastest Indian 2006
This movie is about an old man on a really fast old motorcycle (the “Indian” of the title). It is the story of Burt Munro, a New Zealander of modest means who dreams of going to Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats in the 60’s. More than anything it is a road movie, as Burt travels alone to the United States on a cargo ship, then buys a car to get out to the salt flats. He meets a lot of different people along the way and the audience gets to know Burt as other people get to know him. He is a guy racing the clock against a body showing signs of old age, but he has a great deal of charm and ingenuity that seem to get him through every situation.
The movie itself is not particularly well made. There are bits of dialog that don’t really go anywhere and scenes that don’t result in much of any kind of payoff. It feels like they took people’s memories of him and just pasted them all together. Some of the acting by the supporting cast just isn’t that good, and it seems like maybe they hired some of the actual people to play their roles (they didn’t). So the characters seem genuine and probably are, but the performances are a little stiff.
If you like meeting new people as you travel, it will be easy to like this movie, because it is just a series of encounters with different people tacked onto a plot about Munro and his motorcycle. B.
Written: 15 Feb 2009