The British Airways “Great Britons” program was a contest designed to highlight the best of British creativity and enterprise in the lead-up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The winner in the Film Category was Prasanna Puwanarajah, who wrote the script for “Boy”, which was developed into a short film by award-winning producer Barnaby Spurrier. Importantly, from the perspective of cyclists, the short film will be shown to millions on board British Airways flights in and around both Olympics.
The resulting video is, in our not so humble opinion, remarkable: alternately joyous, haunting, inspirational and sobering. While not specifically a bike safety video, it does have a strong message about bike safety. Because it deals with the human fallout of bike accidents, it works as a safety message more effectively than a thousand finger-wagging, statistics-laden, “thou shalt” proclamations. Its messages and emotions transcend the racing focus of the cycling and are of interest to any cyclist or any parent. It is ten minutes well spent.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHkOIFyC26E&w=640&h=360]
Timothy Spall hardly looks like the racing cyclist type. He probably isn’t. But you can tell from the way he wheels the bike around at 8:20, he has been on a bike or two over the years.
And who can’t like the film’s ultimate message?
Ride On