A Sunday in Hell

Infobox Film
name = A Sunday in Hell


caption =
director = Jørgen Leth
producer = Christian Clausen
writer = Jørgen Leth
narrator =
starring =
music = Gunner Møller Pedersen
cinematography =
editing = Lars Brydesen
distributor =
released = 1977
runtime = 111 min
country = Denmark
language = Danish
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:156812
imdb_id = 0193171

"A Sunday in Hell" (Original Title: "En Forårsdag i Helvede") is a 1977 Danish documentary directed by Jørgen Leth. The film is a detailed chronology of the the grueling 1976 Paris-Roubaix bicycle race from the perspective of participants, organizers and spectators.

The "Hell" of the title are the roads of the one-day Paris-Roubaix race, one of 'Monuments' of the "spring classics" on the professional cycling calendar. Paris-Roubaix is the most famous and usually the most dramatic of these races. Much of the latter portion of the race takes place over "pave": narrow, cobbled tracks that become choked with dust on dry days and treacherously slick and muddy on rainy days. For the riders it's a challenge simply to keep going without puncturing a tyre or crashing on the difficult cobbled roads.

The film succeeds in capturing not just the events of the 1976 edition of Paris-Roubaix, but also the whole atmosphere of a professional bicycle race. The film begins with the introduction of the major contenders for victory: Eddy Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck (the previous year's winner), Freddy Maertens, and Francesco Moser, each with their supporting riders (domestiques) who are charged with helping their team leader to win this most prestigious of races.

The film sets the race in its many contexts - we get multiple views of the action: team director, protester (the race is halted for a while), spectator, mechanic, rider et al. As the "Hell of the North" is entered the selection process begins. Riders puncture, crash, make the wrong move - the race plays out. By the time the finish in the velodrome in Roubaix approaches only a few are in with a chance. The winner is a surprise, but that is only a small part of the film's appeal. It's all encompassing approach to the cultural context of the race makes this a film that can communicate to the cycling aficionado and neophyte alike.

Post-race the exhausted riders, mired in dirt, give interviews in the velodrome's ancient showers. They look like men who have been to hell and back.

"You can see every bead of sweat on the cyclists and every smashed-up ankle. It really makes you never want to get on a bike again. But it is an amazing film." - Nick Fraser, BBC Commissioning Editor [cite news | url=http://www.adelaidefilmfestival.org/films/id-103/view.html | title=Adelaide Film Festival 2007 | publisher=Adelaide Film Festival | year=2007 |accessdate=2007-03-14]

"Arguably the best film ever made about professional cycling" - Peter Cowie, International Film Guide [cite news | url=http://www.biff.no/2003/index.php3?Eng=&ID=FilmEng&counter=140 | title=Bergen International Film Festival | publisher=Bergen International Film Festival | year=2003 |accessdate=2007-03-14]

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0193171|title=A Sunday in Hell
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/storyville/sunday-in-hell.shtml The BBC's "Storyville" on "A Sunday in Hell"]
* [http://www.adelaidefilmfestival.org/films/id-103/view.html Adelaide Film Festival]
* [http://www.biff.no/2003/index.php3?Eng=&ID=FilmEng&counter=140 Bergen International Film Festival 2003]