The Kiwi Underdog

Rating: 8/10 (12 April 2013)

Despite the title of this film, its hero, Burt Munro, is not an Indian, in either the sense of "American Indian" or that of "native of India". He is in fact a New Zealander; the title relates to his Indian Scout motorcycle. The story is set in the early 1960s, and Munro is a motorcycle enthusiast from Invercargill, New Zealand. His great ambition is to take part in the Bonneville Speed Week with his almost equally elderly motorbike, which dates back to 1920. He travels by cargo ship to Los Angeles with his beloved bike, then rides it all the way to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
Burt Munro was a real person, and seems to have been a rather more serious and dedicated individual than the character portrayed in this film, an elderly eccentric in fading health who is obsessed with motorbikes and whose lifetime ambition is to compete at Bonneville once before he dies. The central part of the film, dealing with his journey from Los Angeles to Utah, takes on something of the character of an epic road-movie as Burt overcomes the many obstacles which stand is his way with the assistance of the colourful characters he meets- a transvestite named Tina, a Native American and a woman named Ada who briefly becomes his lover. When he gets to Bonneville he is barred from competing by race officials, partly because he has not registered for the competition in advance and partly because his ancient bike fails to meet contemporary safety standards. Eventually he is allowed to make a timed run, something presented as an act of compassion towards an old man and his dream.
Although there are numerous exceptions, such as his Hannibal Lecter in "Silence of the Lambs" and "Red Dragon", many of Anthony Hopkins's best performances have come in films where he has played real historical individuals, such as Dr Treves in "The Elephant Man", Captain Bligh in "The Bounty", Frank Doel in "84 Charing Cross Road", C.S. Lewis in "Shadowlands", John Quincy Adams in "Amistad" and Alfred Hitchcock in the recent "Hitchcock". "The World's Fastest Indian" is another to add to this list.
The real Munro, in fact, raced at Bonneville on a number of occasions and set numerous land speed records for motorcycles, one of which still stands to this day. It is therefore hard to imagine him being quite as amateurish and ill-prepared as Hopkins's character. And yet Hopkins's interpretation of the role is one of the factors- indeed, possibly the most important factor- which make this film such a success. His Munro is an often-difficult but lovable old man who arouses admiration because of his innocent self-belief, his determination and his refusal to take "no" for an answer, especially in his dealings with American bureaucracy.
The film was a big success at the New Zealand box-office; Munro is something of a folk hero in his native country, and director Roger Donaldson, himself a New Zealander, had long cherished the ambition of making a film about him. (Donaldson had earlier directed Hopkins in "The Bounty"). Perhaps the reason for the film's success that it encapsulates the way New Zealanders think about themselves; a small country of only some four million inhabitants, they have nevertheless achieved considerable success in the sporting arena (particularly in rugby union), and this film celebrates another Kiwi underdog taking on a bigger nation at their own game and beating them. 8/10