Movie Review by Andre Viljoen
THE POTENTIAL INSIDE
Genre: Christian Drama
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The Potential Inside is a well-made human drama that juxtaposes the challenge of champion athletes — in this case mountain bikers — to realise their inner potential with the struggle of people to find the inner strength to push through painful life events.
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It took director,writer, lead actor (and real life mountain biker) Scotty Curlee four years to make the movie, such was his commitment to authentically portray elite mountain bike racing action scenes and the culture and science of top level mountain bike racing in the US. My son-in-law, who has done some extreme mountain bike racing in South Africa was suitably impressed with the action scenes filmed in beautiful mountain locations in Virginia.
The struggle to harness that inner potential necessary to prevail in sport and in day-to-day living is explored in the relationship between grieving veteran mountain bike champion Chris and the not-so-young, rookie mountain bike prodigy Jake, that Chris reluctantly agrees to coach. During the race coaching the stubborn, driven, veteran who is estranged from his wife after the death of their young daughter, is challenged to come to terms with his tragic loss and to discover the true priorities of life.
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For a first time film maker, Curlee did a great job of telling a story of Christian faith and human relationships under pressure without resorting to preachiness and clichés. I enjoyed watching this movie and so did my wife, daughter and son-in-law. It’s definitely suitable, entertaining and uplifting viewing for the whole family and if you are a mountain biker you will love it.
This movie is available on DVD from Brettian Productions.
