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This Film is a Triumph

By Bob Whitby

Orlando Weekly | March 27, 2007

If you've ever had a dream -- an impossible goal you wanted to achieve -- here's a film to put you off it. Americans John Zeigler and Tom Mailhot prepared for three years to enter the Atlantic Rowing Race, a 3,000-mile row-boat course from the Canary Islands to Barbados. They risked their lives, they put their futures on hold, they went into debt, they got nasty rashes on their asses, they endured storms and in the end, they made it. But Zeigler and Mailhot are competitors. They wanted to win, and didn't. What did they find at the other side of a couple million strokes of the oars? An empty feeling and no answers as to why they were driven to the extreme task in the first place. The film itself is a triumph. Shot mostly by the racing crews, it is a testimony to the vast loneliness of the ocean and the mental fortitude it takes to cross it. Seeing people at their lowest ebb is enlightening and frightening.

Tags: Luke Wolbach, Row Hard, No Excuses

Orlando Weekly

In America's theme-park Mecca, Orlando Weekly recently explored these themes: How a private group of developers pulled the strings that directed public land-use policies. How a millionaire time-share mogul made his money selling bogus promises. How an annual Gay Day...

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