Driven
- TV Movie
- 2007
- 25m
YOUR RATING
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Featured review
Identifies a really strong theme to explore but does so late in the game and does little with it
Gareth Almond was once a professional driver but he lost his arm in a racing accident several decades ago. Nowadays he still competes on a lower level but also founded the "Bulldog Spirit" driving school. His school has 40% disabled students and has a very high pass rate with them. This film looks at the Bulldog Spirit school but also the bulldog spirit that Gareth himself has and tries to instill in his students.
An interesting film this one as it explores the spirit of overcoming that Gareth and the couple of his students represent. In doing this it focuses on Gareth as a character and, although I found his humour not to be to my taste he is a cheerful sort. Problem is, Gareth's pushing of boundaries is an issue and it is one that the film really needed to do a better job of questioning his approach when really it might be best to accept the limitations that disability brings. I first thought this as he was driving with a woman who cannot feel her feet and thus occasionally will "lose" the pedals a bit of a problem if she needed to find the brake suddenly. Although Gareth asks if she has considered hand controls, he just accepts her blunt answer of "no" where really morally he should be questioning her ability to operate foot pedals more, even if it does make her feel less "normal".
The film does eventually question the way that Gareth drives himself forward but it does it in a very superficial manner with a slight narration. In doing this it fails to find a really strong character study in the subject. It is easy for me to say from the outside of the process but it would have been more interesting to explore the idea that those with a disability must also mentally accept what they can't do, as well as pushing themselves to be "normal" the film doesn't unquestioningly salute Gareth for his spirit but it is certainly a lot less probing of him and his students than I would have liked. Interesting for what it is then, but it could have been so much more if it had gone down the "concerned questioning" route a lot earlier and gone a lot further.
An interesting film this one as it explores the spirit of overcoming that Gareth and the couple of his students represent. In doing this it focuses on Gareth as a character and, although I found his humour not to be to my taste he is a cheerful sort. Problem is, Gareth's pushing of boundaries is an issue and it is one that the film really needed to do a better job of questioning his approach when really it might be best to accept the limitations that disability brings. I first thought this as he was driving with a woman who cannot feel her feet and thus occasionally will "lose" the pedals a bit of a problem if she needed to find the brake suddenly. Although Gareth asks if she has considered hand controls, he just accepts her blunt answer of "no" where really morally he should be questioning her ability to operate foot pedals more, even if it does make her feel less "normal".
The film does eventually question the way that Gareth drives himself forward but it does it in a very superficial manner with a slight narration. In doing this it fails to find a really strong character study in the subject. It is easy for me to say from the outside of the process but it would have been more interesting to explore the idea that those with a disability must also mentally accept what they can't do, as well as pushing themselves to be "normal" the film doesn't unquestioningly salute Gareth for his spirit but it is certainly a lot less probing of him and his students than I would have liked. Interesting for what it is then, but it could have been so much more if it had gone down the "concerned questioning" route a lot earlier and gone a lot further.
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- bob the moo
- Jul 12, 2007
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- Runtime25 minutes
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