"Cloudstreet: Soaring the American West"

On Thursday, July 9, 2015 at 1:06:21 PM UTC-5, Sean Fidler wrote:
Bill, great point. I agree with you. In addition, the 30 second Opera performance (early in th movie) was quite odd. Nothing against Opera singers, but 30 seconds of Opera singing in a 40 min soaring movie? Painful and completely unnecessary.

My favorite soaring video continues to be BY FAR) Sailplane Grand Prix in the Andes. The scenery in that film is absolutely exceptional as is the exciting storyline. The Sunship Game is a close second. Cloudstreet I'll give 2.5 stars. Great footage but the storyline is pretty sleepy.

Sean, I think we all know what the great racing videos are, and I agree with you those are the best soaring competition videos. But this is not what CloudStreet was billed as, but rather as "four glider pilots on a Soaring adventure", intended for a mass audience, the vast majority of whom never knew that any of this was even possible, let alone what "Soaring" is or really means to those who practice it.

What we as practitioners of Soaring (or our spouses) think is important to a point, but what really matters is how people uninitiated to the Sport think about this after seeing the documentary. After pointing a childhood friend from Colorado at the movie, he watched it and here was his spontaneous reaction:

"Last night I recorded CloudStreet and then watched it this morning. It was awesome! If this is what your passion is then I'll ride with you. That was a fantastic show. I have one regret, a long time ago in Chicago, your father offered me ride in the glider and I was not ready for it. Wish I had taken that ride."

Now of course, notice here there is no desire shown to immediately race in the Andes (or even to become an Opera singer). One ride is a long way from instruction, which is a ways from certification, which is a ways from cross-country soaring, and then competing in the Andes. But I think the point is made. Here is someone who passed up the opportunity to experience something special many years ago and then changed his mind after watching CloudStreet. I think that any efforts to turn heads and eyeballs in our direction (in a positive way) is a great achievement. And yes, HD technology has a way of exposing every wrinkle. But with it, you also get to see every twinkle (of the eyes and of the spirit).

We need more of these positive stories pushed out for consumption by the mass media and these need to address all segments of the population and all walks of life, not just competitive soaring. We need more young people, people of color, and more women pursuing this sport. And although we all support our competitive soaring comrades, we (and the public) are not all destined to become competition pilots.