Michael has kindly sent us the DVD. The captions work fine, but the extras aren't subtitled. They are of a German Audax gathering and interviews with the main protagonists.
The DVD 'froze' momentarily a couple of times. That's something that DVD-Videos are prone to when the data rate is high. It's the price you pay for high quality images, and something you can't test for, as it it depends on the quality of the player.
The film is built around 72 year old, six times rider Claus, 36 year old nuclear power station worker Michael, and 37 year old Sina, living in Paris and working in the motor industry.
Obviously, as the makers of a similar film we're interested in the quality of the video and sound, where they filmed, and how. We especially admired the sound. The interviews on the bike seem to done from a car, are of excellent quality and advance the story.
We were surprised that the controls looked relatively quiet, apart from Dreux. Shots of dormitories had empty beds. That was a function of following two 80 hour riders, and Claus, who preferred to avoid controls where possible. Our experience has been mainly in 'The Bulge', with the main part of the 90 hours and with the 84 hour riders coming through, so an interesting contrast.
The concentration on 80 and 90 hour riders make for some confusion in the middle, as two different timelines are active, and there's a bit of back and forth, leading to a bit of where am I now?
The use of chosen subjects allows a deeper insight into motivations, which are articulated through interviews, and by Claus in a striking piece to camera while riding, that he'd probably been rehearsing all the way round. They are a number of set-piece speeches that I can only imagine from Germans. Some of the best speeches I've had have been from Germans, Brits aren't as prone to them.
It's always interesting to see how everything loosens up towards the end. The crew seemed to establish more of a relationship with the subjects, who reveal more of their essential character under pressure, and the influence of industrial quantities of caffeine. There are some especially good sequences with Sina, who clearly thrives in the environment beyond 900km. The reaction of her companions is amusing.
We've got a specialised interest, as we try to track the crew's movement in our heads, and compare that with what we did. We're waiting for the 'official' film, and then we'll have the event triangulated. We enjoyed this film, and we liked the music, especially the bits like Neil Young towards the end.