There are very specific commercial products that scream America around the world. You have Marlboro cigarettes, KFC, Coke, and Budweiser but, the one that really encompasses all of America’s traditions and feelings is Harley Davidson. The American motorcycle that says to the world, yeah, I’m a man and I’m an American. Now in the end it actually doesn’t matter if you are American, you ride a motorcycle for one reason and one reason only, to escape reality and lose yourself on the open road. The documentary Harlistas: An American Journey takes us into the Harley riding world of Latin bikers and gives us an in-depth look at their stories and why they ride.
Directed by Alfredo De Villa, Harlistas follows four Harley families as they each embark on their own emotionally rooted road trips. It dives into the reasons as to why they all ride, mainly for brotherhood, kinship, and a sense of community. This documentary is only going to be interesting to those who either love to ride motorcycles or are die hard Harley fans. If you don’t belong to either of those categories then you probably won’t like this at all and will probably find it rather boring.
Throughout the documentary we learn the story of the Rod brothers, four brothers who continue to ride for the love of Harleys and to support each other. Their sister was killed in the 1993 World Trade Center attack and, since then, their bond has only grown stronger. Their trip is to the motorcycle Mecca in Sturgis, South Dakota as a tribute to their father who gave up his motorcycle for their new life in America.
We also follow Shorty, a strong, borderline midget Nicaraguan refugeeNicaraguan Nicaraguan, and his son Junior on their journey of relationship building as they embark on their first long ride together down the Pacific coast.
The third story follows Danny Huerta who goes on a ride with all his family members to pay tribute to their recently deceased father. His father had once taken his own road trip through the southwest and now, after rebuilding his father’s bike, Danny plans on following the same route.
The final story follows Lonnie and his stepson Jerry as Jerry looks to learn how to make custom bikes from Lonnie and rid himself of his violent and prison filled past. His main goal is to finally take responsibility for his own life.
If it weren’t for being in a crowd of rowdy Harley riders I don’t think I would have really enjoyed this movie at all. Despite my love of Harleys and a few comical and touching moments throughout the film, this Harley sponsored doc just didn’t do much for me. The filmmaking was average and didn’t always flow the right way. It started on a high and then dropped to a depressing low and had to slowly rebuild to an almost high point again. There were a few shots that I was impressed with, mainly the bike cams that faced the riders as they drove.
One aspect I did enjoy was hearing Junior’s thoughts on his parents and more specifically, his father, who he had actually criticized a few times while Shorty seemed to choose his words carefully, trying to make him look better on the screen (or maybe that was the Q & A). What I did like was the fact that these were random, real men who have a passion for their bikes and usually won’t let anything get in the way of that.
Overall, Harlistas: An American Journey isn’t something you have to see. If it’s on TV you could probably watch it for 30 minutes and then change the channel and you still wouldn’t miss much. It really is only good for those with a passion for motorcycles and/or ride Harleys.
You can find out where to watch Harlistas on its official website.
Rating: A below average Harley sponsored passion piece about riders and their emotional stories (3.8/10)
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