Still We Ride! (2008/MVD DVD Documentary)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: C-     Main Program: C+

 

 

Imagine a world where you could not dance, tell a joke or ride a bike.  Of course, there are places where there are regulations (still!?!) on such activities and in New York City, there is a strange law that forbids bike riding (except perhaps for messenger services?) and that is meeting with massive protests in a little-reported story.  The new documentary Still We Ride! (2008) shows the massive resistance to the law and the results of defying the police.

 

Unfortunately, it is not as in-depth or detail as such a political piece should be, edited oddly and never making the point of why the law was made to begin with, who is responsible, what is going on in New York City and what other ways can this be challenged along with the protest rides.  The result is a series of missed opportunities that could have helped the cause, but feels more like a bandwagon approach that is populist, counterproductive and becomes almost silly.  Too bad, because I can’t imagine why such a law exists off hand and I wanted to learn more than I did here.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image is soft and from all kinds of amateur analog video, while the Dolby Digital 2.0 is occasionally stereo if that and often rough, harsh all location audio.  Extras include a trailer, a few shorts, Doored PSA and Chris Carlsson interview on the DVD, plus comic book zine inside the DVD case.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo