Last Thursday was a unique opportunity to see the movie Fastest in a few selected cinemas in Spain. For me, there was no doubt about it: I had to go. Even though it meant travelling for hours to the south of Madrid and seeing a movie at 9 o’clock in the middle of the week.
I was speculating on the reasons not to show this movie in a cinema in the centre where the movies in original versions are shown (In Spain the normal thing is to dub movies). The main reason I came up with was that probably there would not be enough parking space for everyone who would ride to the cinema. So you can see that I expected this to be a bit of an event. I was even worried that the tickets would sell out so I got the tickets in advance.
When arriving at the cinema, far south, I can’t see a single bike. Entering the cinema I can’t see a single person with a t-shirt with a motorcycle manufacturer logo, in fact I can hardly see a person. There are no banners, no posters, nothing showing that there is an unique oportunity to see this movie today. After showing our tickets and entering the screening room I notice a small poster made of two A4 sheets on the wall inside the entrance. The room itself is empty.
It is a rather small room, approximately 15 rows and maybe a 150 seats. Little by little people start to enter… when the movie ends it was half full.
The movie itself was a fantastic documentary of the career of Valentino Rossi and his opponents and who can challenge him for the title “the fastest”. The narrator was Ewan McGregor and he was indeed suited for this. There were loads of interviews with the riders and with the team personnel, as well as people from the home town of Valentino Rossi. Did you know that there is a church in Tavullia with a special altar for Rossi picturing him on a bike riding towards heaven, all in neon lights. Tacky and spiritual at the same time. I think it is truly Italian and I’d like to go there and pay my respect.
While being disappointed to the lack of event-spirit I was very content with the movie. The question is why so few found their way to see it. Probably not much was done to advertise this and I feel sorry for all the people who missed the opportunity. I hope that there will be a second chance to see it otherwise you’ll just have to settle with the DVD that undoubtly will be released sooner or later.
