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Anthony
Hopkins perfectly plays Burt Munro, a New Zealand eccentric who dreamed of
racing his jury-rigged 1920 motorbike on the salt flats of Utah.
The title refers to the
forty-year-old motorbike New Zealand crank Burt Munro tinkers with in his
garage, not to the crank himself, who’s played by Anthony Hopkins. Munro was a
real guy who, four decades ago, lived out his dream of going to the Bonneville
Salt Flats in Utah to attempt a speed record on his fragile-looking vehicle.
This is another underdog sports story, but the movie puts the brakes on the
cliché moments and concentrates on the journey to possible victory. Along the
way we get to see some now-faded bits of Americana, like the old Burma Shave
signs. Hopkins plays the appealingly eccentric Munro perfectly. Already in his
sixties when he attempted his records, Munro/Hopkins looks as frail as his
jury-rigged little bike. I knew the story and I still kept worrying he’d
crash the bloody thing. Written and directed by Roger Donaldson (The Recruit),
The World’s Fastest Indian is a sometimes-funny visual memoir as
charming as its subject seems to have been.
posted 9/17/13
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