Steers clear of excessive sentimentality

Rating: 8/10 (27 March 2006)

This was a moving story, which resonates with one's sense of growing older and of pursuing a goal against apparently long odds. It was reminiscent of another good film, the "Straight Story," similar in that an old codger is mechanically adept enough to permit him to fulfil a long-held dream in spite of the apparent handicaps of his immediate environment.
It took quite some while for me to get used to Hopkins' New Zealand accent. I couldn't say whether it accurate or not, but it sounded more like Gloucestershire to me. Maybe he has actually aged a lot since the last film I saw of his? He played a very convincing old fella who knows how to do what he needs to do to achieve his ambition (several times, we are told in the closing credits). The community where he lives is ultimately supportive, and the era is beautifully recreated visually.
The film ended rather abruptly, but with the benefit that the time available for excessive mawkishness and sentimentality was restricted