Chasing Legends, dir Jason Berry (2010)

A stunning feature length cinema documentary on the 2009 Tour

The appeal of watching sport is, in large part, not knowing what will happen next. A film of a bicycle race that took place over a year ago is, consequently, an unpromising prospect. That Jason Berry’s Chasing Legends had audiences on the edge of their seats for an hour and a half in 52 sold-out cinemas the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland for its premier, is testimony to the quality of the film that he has crafted from the 700 hours of footage that he brought home from the 2009 Tour de France.

He was lucky in choosing to follow HTC Colombia, of course. Mark Cavendish’s four stage wins and his disallowed stage win provided a succession of high-octane triumphs and provided a back-up team who were generally on a high. Fortune shone too in his selection of directeurs sportif to follow in Brian Holm and Rolf Aldag. As Holm said after the premier: “When we heard that we were going to be filmed, I said to Rolf, great, we will look like Keanau Reeves and Brad Pitt. We ended up looking more like Stan and Ollie”.

Their goofing, wise-cracking partnership does much to leaven the race coverage.

However, it is the cycling action, the inventive cinematography and the rich diet of interviews that make the film. Berry’s avowed aim was to try and capture the entire Tour experience. He acknowledges the impossibility of that, but what he has assembled, using 12 cameras and ASO’s helicopter coverage, is as good a picture of the many facets of the event as has ever been assembled.

There are star interviews aplenty – both current and past, but there are also fascinating insights into smaller aspects of the rolling circus that is the Tour. How Tour photographers work, for example. The magic performed by soingneurs is also partially revealed. And there is even a scene in which six-times Green Jersey winner Eric Zabel helps to clear the team’s bikes. Phil Liggett who narrates the film also comes over as a lot warmer and funnier than he does in a compressed tv format.

My only beefs are the cheesy opening and closing sequences in which a boy somewhere back in the mists of time watches the race pass his home. It was also a little disappointing that those parts of the race that did not concern HTC Colombia – most notably the General Classification – were largely ignored.

Last night’s premiers were a special event in a number of ways. Simultaneous showings across these islands was a novelty, as was the beaming around the country of a live discussion of the film with its stars and director after the film. Not only did this work perfectly – as least in the fabulously comfortable Abbygate Picturehouse in Bury St Edmunds. It also enhanced the film significantly. Fifteen years after the birth of the DVD, cinema has caught on to the idea of bonus features.

TD Oct 10