True Films 3.0 - Kevin Kelly

Long Way Round
What vicarious fun! Two actors (one, the young Obi-won Kenobi from
Star Wars) decide that what their comfortable lives need is a motorcycle
adventure. How about going from London to New York – the long way
around? As in across the channel to Eastern Europe to the Ukraine, Kazakhstan,
a few other ‘Stans, Mongolia, Russia, Siberia, Alaska, Canada
and finally across the US. Somewhere in Kazakhstan they and you realize
that this is not going to be ride in the park. There are only 80 miles of
paved road in all of Mongolia. And on the Road of Bones in Siberia, built
on the lost lives of 2 million prisoners in the Soviet Gulag, there are no
real roads at all. It takes nearly 4 months of much mud and bad food.
Their ride is filmed by a third hapless companion, and is hilarious, educational,
thrilling, and above all, very entertaining. The curious mix of global
Star Wars celebrity fame, medieval nomads, Russian Mafia bad taste,
incompetent officials, and near-death accidents make it irresistible.
By David Alexanian and
Russ Malkin
2004, 360 min.
Available from Amazon
Rent from Netflix
Right before he puked,
we see the dread of
trying to politely sample
boiled goat testicles
(left). A typical Siberian
river crossing doesn’t
stop a VW van (below).
Typical road in Mongolia
(bottom left) is mere
piles of sticks and
stones to mark the way
over dirt.
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