Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Dreadfully Boring

The first must-see film of the year.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This movie was almost completely re-constructed. It appears to be genuine on the surface - but in actual fact all of the moving pictures were re-constructed and that makes this a fake documentary. I wish that the movie would have been different - with perhaps more interviews from the family members of their memories of their family members who ran the Mount Baker mountain. I wish they would have shown the museum in which the historic photographs were kept and I wish I did not get fooled into believing that is was real when it was fake. This movie was completely manipulated - it completely, deceived the audience. Special effects are one thing - but to have the whole movie like this is untrue. The untrue style of filming did take away from the historic story of individuals who ran up Mount Baker and then back down again. To me, their stories, their preparations for the race and their reason to do it - was it National Pride? - was probably more important then the fast special effects - which deadened a deep story.

I would recommend this documentary to anyone who enjoys history, the Pacific Northwest, marathon racing competition, stories of how our present is influenced by the past or just want to see a great movie. Like any marathon runner, a good pace was kept throughout the movie and the audience was cheering at the end. As a resident of Whatcom County, I see Mt. Baker in the near distance and could not have imagined how the racers were able to do this race. This movie made it come alive for me. It was not only a lot of fun to watch, but appeared historically accurate. Loved the use and balance of character acting, old-time clips, historical expert opinions, and interviews.