Hot Docs 2008

On the way to cash in bottles for a few dollars, a group of homeless men turn into road warriors, careening their grocery carts down the death-defying hills of North Van at speeds of 70 kilometres per hour. There are dangers and sometimes a man is seriously injured. "That's life. Everybody in extreme sports gets bruises," says Big Al, a cart racer and hell raiser just out of prison. Director Murray Siple loves speed and made sports films until a car accident 10 years ago rendered him quadriplegic. So when he met these guys cashing in bottles at the supermarket, a friendship and mutual trust developed through the understanding that their disabilities make them invisible to society. Fergie, "pickeled as a newt," sings a wicked version of Tennessee Stud. Max barbecues a gourmet salmon in the liquor store parking lot. Al takes us on a tour of grocery stores to teach us how to choose exactly the right vehicle. In the tradition of the best documentaries, both subjects and filmmakers are revealed as fragile, funny and fully human.
-Lynne Fernie