The Racer

It's 1998. Dominique "Dom" Chabol (Louis Talpe) is a veteran riding his last Tour de France. His only job is supporting the younger riders. He's not supposed to win anything, but dreams of a stage win. Sonny McElhone (Iain Glen) is the team masseur and chief doper. Dom gets replaced before leaving for the tour. As he starts to accept his fate, he gets a second chance.

This is ripped from the headlines. Dom is such a quiet character. He almost has no colors except when he starts connecting with the girl. It's all about his racing. The last visual should be him with the girl. Instead of the trophy girls, he should walk off the podium to kiss Lynn like Rocky style. I like all the details, but this is a bit quiet.

If you are interested in the Tour De France and its whereabouts, about the hidden things around it, or interested in cycling races in general, this film is definitely for you. I loved THE PROGRAM, back in 2015, about Lance Armstrong; and also loved CONTRE LA MONTRE, a TV movie starring Olivier Gourmet, denouncing drug use for cycling races. This story takes place during the first phase of the 1998 Tour de France in Ireland. This movie, I repeat, is very exciting and interesting too, a good character study concerning supporting racers, and not always the big stars. In short, it shows this sport from another angle. So many details are shown, as for a documentary.

Not a single scene is in order with reality. 4 stars because the acting is not bad at all. Mediocre try of a fine subject! Too bad its nothing more than a bad try. Belgian main character (Mega Toby) does some fine acting though....

There's the makings of a decent film here. Good characters and the lead roles are well acted. Some of the supporting characters are little more than 2 dimensional stereotypes (the highly strung Italian prima donna) but that's forgivable in a low budget movie.

The real problem is that the film gets so much of the cycling wrong. Having a sprinter who's favourite to win the Tour de France. Domestiques who literally ride the entire stage on the front of the peloton including doing the lead out. Teams having all their riders together at the end of the stage. These things aren't central to the plot, but the problem is that to anyone who actually follows cycling they make it clear that the filmmakers either don't know much about professional cycling or just don't care. Which is a problem in a film about cycling which is mainly going to appeal to cyclists and cycling fans!

This is not just another "sporting underdog wins the victory" movie. In this movie the good guys aren't that good, and we can really empathize with some of their immoral decisions. This is a very mature film with a plot that isn't so black-and-white. I started watching it skeptically, but couldn't stop watching until the very end.

The soundtrack is nice too, and the race sequences really transmit the excitement and energy of fierce athletic competition. Give it a try, it's a great movie.