Those of you who follow my posts might pick up on the fact that I’m something of a misanthrope. It’s true that I take the Hobbesian viewpoint on most things that concern the average human being. You might argue that by being such a pessimist, I’m shutting myself off to those moments of human joy and triumph that do occur; my response to that is simply to say that dwelling in the darkness as I do simply allows me to see the light that much more clearly.
I mention this to bring to your attention a documentary called “For Thousands of Miles“. It’s the story of a cross-country road trip taken not by car, but by bicycle. It’s the story not only of the cyclist, but also of those he meets along the way, each of whom shares with us their reasons for traveling, for being alone, and how making an isolated trip like this affects the soul.
The journey, made by Larry McKurtis traveling from Anacortes, Washington to Bar Harbor, Maine, was chronicled by two aspiring filmmakers who ran out of money well before they finished, had an investor pull their funding, and themselves experienced some harrowing emotional changes. Part of what they went through is expressed in the accompanying series “64 Days“.
Now, it might just be me, drawn to tales of physical and emotional privation — “Into the Wild” comes to mind — but as a stark contrast to the way we behave around other people, there’s something compelling about getting to see someone at their most raw, with all artifice and armor stripped away from them. When the veneer of society is removed, what is a man — his philosophy, or himself? “For Thousands of Miles” looks to be one of those movies that attempts to answer that question.
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