Hey, folks. Capone in Chicago here.
Over the years, I've seen an overwhelming number of sports-themed movies centering on an athlete overcoming great obstacles to reach some previously unobtained level of excellence. But I can't remember a time when said obstacle was an athlete's suicidal tendencies whenever he lost or somehow failed. Thus was the overriding and terrifying quality to real-life Scottish cycling giant Graeme Obree, who broke a few speed records for one-hour of riding using a bike he designed using bits of metal borrowed from numerous sources, including his own washing machine. THE FLYING SCOTSMAN is a decidedly darker version of a sports movie because of Obree's mental health issues, but it still manages to tell its difficult story with a great deal of humor and hope.
As the film opens, Obree (played by TRAINSPOTTING's Sick Boy, Jonny Lee Miller) loses his family-run bike shop, which he was able to build after having some level of success as a competitive cyclist a few years earlier. To make any money and pay some bills, he must work as a bike messenger. His wife (Laura Fraser) is his never-wavering supporter as he decides he's like to find a sponsor and get back into racing, with the ultimate goal of breaking the World Hour Record. With the help of his new manager and friend Malky (LORD OF THE RINGS' Billy Boyd) and his newly met mentor, Baxter (Brian Cox), Obree sets out to assemble his new bike, built to withstand wind resistance to a degree never before seen in cycling. In the process, he also invents a few new ways of sitting on a racing bike, including the classic "Superman Pose."
I liked Miller's more casual approach to this distinctly heavy material. He treats Obree's illness with respect and realism, especially in a couple of harrowing sequences involving his inability to even leave his own home. I particularly liked the closeness between Obree and Malky, a fellow bike messenger who becomes his manager almost by default. Their mutual understanding of what it takes mentally and physically to break this record makes them a formidable pairing. Also well handled in THE FLYING SCOTSMAN is director Douglas Mackinnon's treatment of Obree's partnership with his wife, the only person in his life who truly understands him. Relative newcomer Fraser is a beautiful woman, but she dials things back on the looks here to concentrate on playing this almost blindingly supportive wife. But she pulls it off without it looking forced or merely dutiful. She is a full partner is every aspect of Obree's life, and Fraser's style and dignity help carry it off.
There is definitely something a bit different about watching a film about a guy cycling around in circles alone (as opposed to competitive racing in such a film as BREAKING AWAY), but Mackinnon pulls off getting us inside the head of someone whose only real competitors are the clock and his own unstable mind. It's easy to be impressed by THE FLYING SCOTSMAN.
Capone
