Love the Beast

Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers. That said, it shouldn't detract from your viewing pleasure.

"Love the Beast" is a documentary chronicling a love affair between Australian actor Eric Bana and his car, a 70s era Ford Falcon XB coupe. In short, the car struck him at a young age thanks to a race in Bathurst in '77, solidified after the viewing of "Mad Max", and led him to finally buy a beater of a Falcon at the age of 15. The car became his "campfire", a place for he and his mates to congregate and become family as they tirelssly worked on all the things wrong with it. The car went through phases where it became road worthy, show worthy, up to race worthy, where he entered the 5 day Targa Tazmania road rally race. The film climaxes 11 years later when, after his fame and the money that comes with it, he reenters the Targa Tazmania with the same car, fully race prepped and trimmed out to 600bhp and stuffs it into a tree, effectively killing it.

Any person who understood my rant here in the "New Dart" thread will immediately relate to this film. It's a fantastic commentary on our love affair with cars and just how they make us tick. But while that may be the topic of the film, there's a deeper, underlying tone present that any man should be able to relate to, and that is Passion. It's a eye opening look inside the psyche of man and our need to have a "love". Whether it's fixing up hot rods, auto racing, hunting, fishing, collecting casino cheques, or building tiny sail boats in bottles, every man has something he can't explain, something that costs too much money and does little tangible good for he and his family, yet he needs it. For as long as I can remember, I've never been able to explain my own actions, why I put my health at risk for a sport I'll never go pro in, why I'd risk my life to do a stunt no one's ever seen before, and never will. This film, with commentary from Jeremy Clarkson and Dr. Phil McGraw, nails it right on the head. We do it because we need to do it. It's what we do. It truely is who we are. To take from us our Passion is to take from us our Selves, and no tragedy resulting from our Passion could be as great as losing one's Self.

A couple times I was moved to tears, and it had nothing to do with cars. A must see for anyone with a love of cars, or a man with a passion of any kind.