The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young

I have watched and re-watched this documentary multiple times. And have purchased the DVD from the movie's homepage. This is a fascinating view of what is unarguably the toughest trail race in the world. Since it's inception in 1986 ONLY 20 PEOPLE have EVER finished this 100 + mile race. This year, 3/22/24 the 1st female (Jasmine Paris from England) was among the Fierce Five Finishers on the race. Although the documentary was made 12 years ago, the information about the race is still current. If you are a runner or an running enthusiast I urge you to watch this award winning documentary on this awesome race!

A friend told me about this. It's not a topic I would normally find interesting, but I was mesmerized from the first scene. Its homespun, down-home interviews with a professional film crew and engaging set of stories, along with plenty of scenes giving tastes of how very, very hard this event is. Unlike so many documentaries that get dull with an oppressive amount of detail and back-story, the film doesn't show you everything and tell you everything. This is a good thing. It left me wanting to know more, but feeling good with what the film delivered. I couldn't find one flaw with the film, and plenty of extras I didn't expect.

A fun, warm look at the weirdos and Weirdo In Chief orbiting the enigmatic Barkley Marathon. Well worth the watch, especially if you're looking for something that has nuance and psychology but is also not a hard watch.

The Barkley Marathons is about a race based on a prison escape that only ten people have finished in the last twenty-five years. This is a documentary where the mere concept of it excites you and believe me, it delivers. It's crazy how something as weird and obscure as this has been going on for so long and people just began to hear about it. It has some nice looking shots which some documentaries don't have at all. It's informational and entertaining at the same time which is a plus. My only flaw with it was how hard it was to remember who was who while watching. With fifty different racers it's hard to keep track and I feel like a better job could've been done.

8/10 -- Great. Please give this film a watch. It hurts me to see movies like this get no attention whatsoever. You can buy it on Amazon, Vudu, Google Play, and iTunes for like five dollars digitally and on their website, you can but it for twenty-five bucks on Blu-Ray. I wouldn't recommend torrenting it because a film like this needs all the attention it can get.

I enjoyed this documentary, which follows the 2012 race of Barkley Marathon, one of the toughest and wildest ultramarathons.

This movie reminded me of "Safety to Nome" about Iditarod Trail, another tough ultra marathon occurring in Alaska, in that the participants' persistence and strength were equally impressive. But this one took a lighter and less tense stance, featuring each key attendee's journey in a less dramatic (more abstract?) way, blended well with the narrative by the organizer. It was much easier to follow it, rather than keeping my palm sweated all throughout.

Nevertheless, it was not boring at all! The last few minutes were indeed full of a good drama and a small suspense.

I recommend it!