Dark Rider (2021)

Directed by: Eva Küpper | 91 minutes | documentary

‘Dark Rider’ is a documentary about the ‘boyhood dream’ of a blind man. As a teenager, Australian Ben Felten, in his fifties, was diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease that left him completely blind in his mid-thirties. Yet Ben is determined to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a professional motorcycle racer. He asks former Grand Prix champion and contemporary Kevin Magee for help breaking the world speed record and becoming the fastest blind motorcyclist in the world.

A male bond develops between the gentlemen – mutual respect, hard jokes and beer drinking that is, with rides on the back of the motorcycle champion with blues rock on the soundtrack. Soon Ben himself will be behind the wheel. Who better to help with this than Magee, not a world champion but winner of a GP in the top class. After an accident he was no longer able to get the most out of his career, so understanding the limitations of a blind person was not impossible either.

The first independent rides on beautifully shot, empty salt flats seem fairly self-evident, although the tension is palpable. As a blind man you could be satisfied with a performance of that caliber, Ben is ambitious. A man needs goals in life beyond his current abilities, and the dry Australians are taking it step by step. How does a filmmaker do that? He parallels Ben’s story with that of a teenager with the same degenerative eye disease.

A welcome change. Dramatic interventions are limited to showing a black image, with the sound of a motorcycling Ben in the background. Not really necessary for the viewer. He or she will find a sympathetic project on his or her path, even though the main characters are not talkers. Teen Jed’s analog story is welcome, for the emotional connection to making childhood dreams come true. Ben’s dream is not unique, is the message; there is hope for every child with this eye disease.