By Bassam Tarazi | Image property of respective holders.
Rank
Yes we know, bull riding is dangerous.
Anytime I am going to watch human beings do something that I deem idiotic, chances are it’s going to have my full attention so I can laugh at said individuals. Rank is a movie about bull riding, the bulls, the men that choose to ride them and those poor bastards that have to commandeer the bull rider after he’s been ejected from the beast.
DVD Review: Rank
What did I learn from the movie? Well by following the three highest ranking contestants in the movie, I learned that each of them has been surrounded by extreme emotional (death of a parent riding bulls) or physical pain (cracked skull and partial loss of sight!) due to the sport. I am guessing that this happens quite a bit when your sport involves you being in close proximity to a bull that doesn’t want you anywhere near it.
I must admit that at times, the movie was compelling because the only thing I knew about the sport is that you have to stay on the bull for 8 seconds. But seeing how the bulls are bred and trained is quite the spectacle and I now have the knowledge of never wanting to get near a bull named “Mudslinger”. These things are bred to not be ridden.
The hardest part about making a documentary about bull riding is that when it’s time for the action part of the film, we all know that 8 seconds is the max amount of time the action will be available and to be honest, it’s usually less than 8 seconds.
Where does this one rank? Well, I think I’d go right down the middle.