The story of Graeme Obree, an essentially amateur cyclist who competed with the best, is quite remarkable, but that's not to say it makes for a great film. The narrative arc of this movie is dreadfully predictable, and attempts to make play from Obree's struggles with depression are limited by the cartoonish way in which the officials with whom he was often in conflict are depicted. Perhaps the real problem is that Obree is the sort of hero who fits the Scottish self-image too well, the plucky underdog (celebrated in the unimaginative title of this movie) is just too comfortable a figure (in terms of how he fits with how the Scots would like to see themselves); there's no 'Trainspotting'-style iconoclasm here. Maybe it would have been better to make a documentary; the details of how Obree fashioned a competitive bike with his own hands (and to his own, revolutionary design) are fascinating - but not the stuff the fiction, and told as a drama, the result is a little dull.
Review of The Flying Scotsman
