The positive uplift provided by athletics is as old as the ages, and this sports doc doesn’t exactly challenge the cliché. In chronicling the establishment of a professional cycling team in postgenocide Rwanda, T.C. Johnstone’s film convincingly illustrates how biking restored a sense of national pride and a feeling of purpose to poverty-torn citizens. The movie crafts genuine drama from a nail-biter of an Olympic-qualifying race and authentic pathos from footage of Rwandans watching the Games’ opening ceremony on television. Only a periodic focus on the troubled backstory of the team’s coach, American cyclist Jock Boyer, strikes the wrong note, distracting from a far more compelling tale.
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