Terry Fox: Le coureur de l'espoir

Yes, here might be a movie where you have to break out the Kleenex and start sobbing. No, this real life drama/true story bypasses all of that, avoiding the sentimentality's, what have you. Real life cripple Eric fryer, playing Terry with honesty and realism, not overacting primarily makes this film. He's a very angry and bitter man, Participating in a walk for charity, with one leg, the other just a mechanical foot attached to a spring, which makes the journey harder, but inspirational, we follow the pitfalls, where at times, Fox gets really stormed up, at times, almost wanting to pack it in. Rosalund Chao, as his girlfriends adds some romantic moments, where Duvall, is great as the abused driver, transporting Fox, while Makepeace is likable as Fox's younger brother. Avoiding all that sop sop, a thing I really like about the film, it has a realist nature about it, and Fox's journey is one vastly travelled where he suffers a few hiccups, collapsing at one stage, while bleeding from his fake leg, where the end is an ultimate predictability. His anger and effrontery does get to you at times. This is a very entertaining drama, one I liked very much, where a similar film, of the same year, Running Brave, is one to check out too.

Due to my age, I can only vaguely remember when Terry Fox was running across Canada, but his story is definitely a legendary one here in my country. This is a solid film that begins with his life immediately before his leg is amputated, but it focuses on the actual "Marathon of Hope". Some of the dialogue seems a little unrealistic at times, and the film often moves at too brisk a pace, but the acting is fairly good, and in spite of the flaws, this is a story that needs to be heard if you are unfamiliar with it. Terry Fox is widely regarded as a great Canadian hero...here's your chance to find out why.

They say the Dragon never sleeps. He stalks his prey in silence cold, and when he strikes, what evil fire in his venom.

One day the snake in careless greed, dared seize a Knight 'Born of the Sun.' The bite burned deep - right to the soul.

The snake held fast - damage done. But death could not win. For though the fire had pierced him through, Knight of the Sun held strong and true.

The fever broke, the serpent fled, one limb his prize.

The knight rose up, these words he spoke: 'You have broken my body but not my spirit. I will not mourn, nor will I fear it.

Beware tread beast, you have not won this battle, My quest has just begun.

From the Terry Fox Story written by Rika Noda.

Things start promisingly. Terry Fox is presented as a driven if surly adolescent in a similarly combative family. The contentious relationship between Terry and his parents is handled head on and smartly; we watch with interest as Terry's teen angst, rebellion and boundary challenges brush up against his parents' attempt to rein in his self-pity and grandiose schemes. Unfortunately, this strong conflict and interesting family dynamic is largely jettisoned once Terry hits the road. His parents do reappear later, but only briefly and with no payoff.

Another big disappointment is the waste of Robert Duvall, who is mostly at sea in his curiously small role as the marketing man who arrives in the third act to properly expose (and motivate) Terry's efforts to a growing throng of fans. Coming so close as it does to Duvall's Oscar winning performance in Tender Mercies, this choice is particularly head--scratching for the uber-talented Duvall, who would seem likely to have had more control over his roles (maybe it was filmed before?)

The movie ends awkwardly as Terry Fox is forced to drop out of his cross-country run for health reasons. The denouement is a clunky mix of fare-thee-well voice-over and a wistful Terry Fox slowly jogging around a track shortly before his death. This is what we've been building towards? It's hard to say; the movie condenses so much (including the clipped arrival of brother Chris Makepeace, who barely gets a line in the whole movie, though he's in many scenes) and is edited so poorly at the end, we're not sure whether whole sections were left on the cutting room floor.

It's probably not PC to criticize the candid biopic of a controversial but inspirational amputee who raised millions for Cancer research whilst running across Canada, but the sad truth is that this movie is mostly unpleasant and entirely uninspiring. Worse, THE TERRY FOX STORY is not even particularly moving where it wants to be. There is a sense that the story is building to something, but even that conceit is shot down by the jarringly abrupt and strangely abbreviated anti-climactic finale.

Whatever the story problems, the central problem is Terry. He is incredibly persevering, yes. But he's also a moody SOB who abuses various undeserving targets, including his parents, brother, sister, run helpers and girlfriend (a pre TNG Rosalind Chao who is young and cute).The movie is so careful to document his "complex" combative nature that it's never really possible to sympathize with him. Fox's constant whining and pettiness may be accurate, but it makes his Canadian trek an uninspiring drag. Also, he never grows from the experience, making us wonder where he's been the whole time. Viewers are better off with a big bag of chips, a comfy LAZY BOY and some old Wide World of Sports reruns than this earnestly conveyed but largely wrong-headed muddle. 4.5/10.

just as Terry did in his short but heroic life. How accurate the movie is I am sure it is quite accurate but have heard of a few inaccuracies compared to the real road trip. I recommend this movie to anyone that loves a beautiful heartwarming true story but be warned as you must know the tears will come just a matter of how many and when.......Makepeace and Duvall do a great job portraying Terry and his publicist with a lot of the inside scenes being somewhat difficult to believe. If you get a chance to watch this made for TV movie you won't regret it one bit, truly a classic in Canadian history. There is a documentary on Terry as well which I will post a review on later.