Wednesday, December 5, 2018

DUST 2 GLORY: RACING BAJA STYLE



I will be up front and say that I might not be the best person to write about this movie. I’m not a huge fan of racing and don’t follow it much. That doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate those that do as well as those that are involved in the sport. But fans will get much more out of this film that I did.

The movie is about the legendary SCORE Baja 1000. SCORE is the official off road racing organization behind this race which takes place in Baja peninsula in the northwestern part of Mexico. It is the final race in a four race tournament set by SCORE.

In 2005 director Dana Brown covered the race and its contestants. Now he returns to cover the race in 2016 in order to release the film in time for the 50th anniversary season in 2017. No stranger to high speed sports Brown was also responsible for the film STEP INTO LIQUID about the surfing world.

The movie describes the various styles of vehicles that compete in the race, presents some background about the race and features many of the notable drivers involved in this season. Each one tells their tale about their involvement as well as their family traditions of competing in the race. We also get to see them on the road doing what they do best.

If what you want to see are the vehicles on the road racing at top speed then you’ll enjoy this movie. For me it jerked around too much and I’m not talking about the cars themselves. The movie switches at breakneck speed from one driver to the other and the interviews with each are just as quick before moving to the next or to another car. The attention paid to their families is negligible at best and only they’re involvement in the sport as well. But sequences of speeding cars with decent soundtrack accompaniment is on display in fast cut portions of the film and maybe that’s who this was made for.

Don’t think of this as an introduction to the sport. If you do you’ll be left with more questions than answers. Instead make this an item that you give as a gift to someone already well aware of the race or the racing fan who might find it interesting. As for the casual viewer my guess is you won’t have a lot of fun with this one.

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