In the late 1960s, after a lifetime of perfecting his classic Indian motorcycle, Burt Munro (Anthony Hopkins) sets off from the bottom of the world— Invercargill, New Zealand—to clock his bike at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. With all odds against him, Burt puts his irrepressible Kiwi spirit to the test, braving the new world on a shoestring budget. Burt’s quest culminates in an unlikely conclusion and remains legendary within the motorcycle community to this day.

I wonder what the real Burt Munro was like because after seeing the film about him I would have loved to meet him. This is more than the tale of an underdog who through his willpower managed to change the world because what Burt did wasn’t that world changing. This is the tale of how one man through his willpower and spirit managed to change everyone he came in contact with and make their lives better for just having known Burt. I love how everyone in the movie is so curt and rude when they first meet Burt but by the time he is done with them they will forever be fans of his even if he had never set a single record. He is so nice, he is so loveable that you can’t help but find yourself as audience cheering for and rooting for him to accomplish everything he set out to do. There are several types of the underdog kind of movies based on true stories and most of them don’t work anymore because they feel too clichéd and we can’t but help see all their predecessors when we watch them. Dreamer for example which came out recently feels like rainbows, sunshine and lollipops are dripping from the screen and that I should like the movie because of this but The World’s Fastest Indian isn’t like that at all. The reason I loved the movie was because of Anthony Hopkins and Burt Munro who took me on a wild ride halfway around the world to accomplish a simple dream. All Burt ever wanted to do is race on the Salt Flats where he could go as fast as he possibly he could and you can’t help but love him for it and love the movie for showing you it so well with comedy and a little drama to spice everything up. No clichés, no Murphy’s Law kind of moments just a simple man and a simple dream.

This is another movie that the character was so interesting that I did a little research on him after the movie was over. From a popular New Zealand Motorcycle magazine Burt is quoted as saying:- "At the Salt in 1967 we were going like a bomb. Then she got the wobbles just over half way through the run. To slow her down I sat up. The wind tore my goggles off and the blast forced my eyeballs back into my head - couldn't see a thing. We were so far off the black line that we missed a steel marker stake by inches. I put her down - a few scratches all round but nothing much else". At the time Burt was traveling at close to 206 mph (331 km/h). Burt passed away in 1978 after owning that particular motorcycle for 57 years and set numerous records and the film proves that sometimes it’s the real story, the true story that makes the best fiction and the best films for that matter.

Anthony Hopkins may be getting a little old but he definitely hasn’t lost his chops as actor. This is one of the finest performances I have seen him in a number of years as he nothing less than fantastic in the movie. I never knew of Munro before this movie but Anthony Hopkins was Burt Munro there was no question about that. Even Munro's children who visited the set one day thought his performance was so authentic that it moved them to tears. How can you say anymore about Hopkins’ performance so much so that Munro’s own children were moved by his very performance. There was other roles in the movie that helped the movie but this movie is about Hopkins, it is about that 1920 Indian that spent nearly sixty years being modified so much so that no other ever even came close to its speed and the movie is about heart and following your dreams where ever they may take you even if it is half way around the world.

Grade: A