Unterwegs zum Kap

Traveling vicariously with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman in LONG WAY ROUND, I was pleased to see them continue their adventures in LONG WAY DOWN, a trip from the top of Scotland to the bottom of Africa.

I thoroughly enjoyed Long Way Round. Their travels were tremendously entertaining, with absent roadways, accidents, and playful banter that made it a fun travelogue. It was also strange to see such out-of-the-way places where roads vanished, streams swelled requiring special crossings, and the people that turned out and took them in. It was a microcosm event where we got inside the heads of both the travelers and those they visited.

But things changed for the worse with Long Way Down.

First is the overuse of the helmet cameras and microphones. The sound was often exceptionally muffled, forcing one to rewind the DVD and turn up the volume in hopes of hearing what was said. The helmet cams, too, gave poor quality video and were often grimy or rain-splattered, not letting the viewer enjoy the sites around Africa and beyond.

And where Long Way Round started off with a bang, giving us some great entertainment right from episode one, Long Way Down didn't really pick-up for me until episode four when we are fully entrenched in Africa's amazing countries.

It was also a bit perturbing to see so much time given over to their time with UNICEF. Although I think this is a very worthy cause, it isn't why I like watching travel diaries like this. I want to experience the road and the people and the countryside. Having it on the DVD's extra features was fine, which is where most of the UNICEF information should've remained (I still would've watched the extras, too).

For those familiar with Long Way Round, they'll be happy to learn that Claudio is back in the saddle with our two boys, filming every move and crashing and burning yet again! The guy needs to pay closer attention to the road.

There's been some negative comments made about Ewan's wife's choice to join them on one leg of the journey. I thought this was excellent. She turned out to be a good diversion for Ewan and Charley, as well as quickly becoming an adequate motorcyclist.

I will also say that it was wonderful to see so many different cultures as the two crossed the African plains. I was particularly impressed with Ethiopa, which I'd always pictured as arid and depressing. But here we get to see the lushness of its green, verdant lands ...and it's incredibly gentle people.

Indeed, all of the people Charley and Ewan meet are amazingly gracious and hospitable. Perhaps even more than the tough roads they traveled. Many miles and many friends were passed during this trip. And I'm glad I watched it. Just not as glad as when I'd finished Long Way Round.

I was so stoked to see that Charley and Ewan decided to embark on another bike journey together. Africa was a revelation and a visual smörgåsbord. I enjoyed their reactions and the tensions that emerged and subsided, which gave us access to their humanity. Including more of the support crew added dimension, although I do agree that Claudio should have been given more play. Enjoyed the pre-trek prep. Could have done with less griping about time pressure. Thought it was a bad decision to make this a plot point because there were so many other interesting suspenseful things. Really thought the energy and focus dropped off when Eve Mcgregor joined the trip. She added nothing. I felt there was some hidden agenda going on that had nothing to do with the spirit of the adventure. I agree with a previous post that said if she wanted to participate more in her husband's recreational passions she should have done that off camera. As a viewer I somehow felt used by her insinuating herself into the situation. It was like inviting yourself to a rock concert with your son and his friends, or showing up at rehearsal wanting to be part of their band. Hope she does not tag along on the next one.

Granted the LWD didn't have the kind of edge Long Way Round had but lets not forget, Ewan and Charlie never started this with the intentions making it into a DVD. It specifically says at the beginning of LWR that they initially planned to film it themselves as their own record but a second thought was to do it properly.

This is not a made up drama series, it's real life... they don't write what comes over the next boarder, what's over the next hill... take it as you come. I am glad that they were kind enough to let us into their adventure.

Really liking the Long Way Down Under idea though.

Long Way Down is the feature cut of the second season of the road trip documentary featuring Ewan McGregor and his buddy Charlie Boorman on their motorcycle adventure from the Northern tip of Scotland, to the southern tip of Africa. Brushing up on the past adventure is not a requirement for getting your visa for this trip. The film suffers mildly from the lack of build-up and planning for the trip, which would have added more of an introduction to the traveling company, but the ramping right into the adventure helps the pace of the 2+hr film. As a whole the film works as an African postcard, a buddy road trip, and the greatest advertisement for adventure tourism ever made. It is impossible to watch this film and not have an immediate desire to skip the beaches of Hawaii for the far-reaches of the African wilderness. McGregor and Boorman featured equally are both likable, and yet oddly familiar. They are the friends on any vacation that you realize the longer you stay with them, the more disagreeable and yet likable they get. McGregor checks any star ego he may have at the Scotland border, often embracing his lack of motorcycling skill "I fall down a lot", and is surprised when he is not mobbed while visiting the original 1977 Star Wars set in Tunisia. Unlike the rest of the celebutard reality shows that infest the airwaves, Long Way down is not about following the everyday life of a celebrity, it's about following two friends on the adventure of a lifetime…one of which just happens to be obi-wan Kenobi.

The first adventure seemed to be an actor's version of travelling around the world. But the cameras and support team did allow us to be in on their great adventure to pretty much unseen (to non-locals) parts of the world.

Long Way Down re-unites the old team, now all good friends for a trip to another adventurous part of the world, Africa. Race to Dakar could be viewed almost as a scouting trip for this journey.

To begin with Charley and Ewan say that they don't want to do a three and a half-month journey again but curiously their second journey seems to be 3 months long. Their schedule is more compressed and less free-ranging, and they have been allotted less episodes to tell their story in (one less episode makes a noticeable difference). And affecting it even further is the unusual addition of a fourth rider, Ewan's wife, for 10 days of the journey, who up until a few months before the starting date had never ridden a motorbike.

The presentation is identical to Long Way Round due to being made by the same people, and the journey starts off fairly similar in the European leg (a more adventurous route along the Balkan peninsula was abandoned in the planning stages). Also they have again chosen to use large, heavy BMW motorbikes, but presumably due to the X5's fragility in Race to Dakar, the support vehicles are two Nissan Patrols.

The series starts to get interesting when they reach Libya where US citizens are not allowed. Minus two of the crew, Charlie and Ewan are shown around some Roman ruins that rival those in Rome. Until more equatorial latitudes are reached, Charlie and Ewan essentially complain about the tight schedule and not being able to enjoy the experience. They relax as the scenery turns green and they reach areas with more infrastructure, and essentially have a blast the rest of the way except for the frequent border crossings. By the time the scenery turns brown (but not desert) again they are trying to savour the last of their experience. However most of what we see only seems like scratching the surface, if the story was a little more in-depth it may have captured the feeling of adventure than the first journey had. As it is it only seems like an extended highlights reel and unfortunately in a few places has a home movie feel to it as it is essentially a gathering of friends and family.

Overall I think it's a good look at another less well-known part of the world, Africa, but it seems a little flat and forgettable in comparison. It is still (mostly) compelling viewing and makes me want to explore Africa myself.