A note on Renoir and the world's quirkiest and maybe toughest race

First, a note on yesterday's post: I may have overstated the matter in blaming the Nazis for making it impossible for Renoir to finish A Day in the Country. Not that I'm apologizing to the Nazis! But, having watched some of the supplementary material about A Day in the Country, there's more to the story: Yes, Renoir abandoned the film and moved to the U.S. during the war and never returned to the project, which his crew and others worked into a 40-minute feature. But it was primarily problems with weather and funding that put the film on ice - and Renoir had to move onto other commitments. However, the producer, who was trying to raise the funds to complete the film, was a Jewish man and as the Germans took over the government of France it was impossible for him to get funding and he had to move to hiding in the south of France. Only after the war was he able to raise the money, and by that time Renoir was out of the picture, so to speak.

Last night saw the documentary The Barkley Marathons, about the world's quirkiest and maybe toughest endurance run (covering 5 marathon-length loops over trails and rugged, hilly terrain in Tennessee), not exactly a run but a combination of mountaineering, orienteering, hiking, climbing, running, and pure survivalism. Race times out at 60 hours (2 1/2 days), allows only 40 entrants per year, and there are often no finishers. Runners will have particular interest in this film, but others would like it to, esp if, like M., you are fan of all moves about survival and struggle against the elements, such as Everest and Meru. As movie, it breaks no new ground, but the filmmakers do a good job telling the story of the race through the viewpoint of the participants (although why didn't they interview any of the women?), and the got good footage of the participants during the race at various points, including some nighttime footage, and harrowing footage of the very fit participants struggling into the hq (they must past the starting gate at the start of each of the 5 loops), as we watch a few deciding to give up the quest, they can literally take no more, they're at the end of their endurance.