For the dudes of Highway Gospel, skateboarding is a religion. Whether it’s bombing down hills at over 100km per hour, just inches from the ground, or spending 25 years and their life savings to keep competing in the sport they love, these guys are truly devoted — and a little road rash or even open-heart surgery are simply tests for the faithful.
Highway Gospel weaves together two Canadian stories of skateboarding’s true believers. On the BC coast, the sport of longboarding evolves from a rag-tag group of daredevils willing to risk insane speeds, gnarly turns and possible arrest to a slightly less rag-tag group who help make longboarding legal and build a vibrant community in the process. In Ottawa, Claude Regnier, a world champion slalom skateboarder in the 1980s, is trying to make a comeback after “dying” on the operating table during open-heart surgery.
Highway Gospel is blessed with an unforgettable and thoroughly quotable pantheon of characters. Jody “Schnitzel” Willcock is the spiritual father of longboarding in BC. A middle-aged stoner-philosopher-cum-inventor, Jody uses cast-off parts from the local lumber mill to create a homemade computer-controlled jigsaw and revolutionize longboard design. If Jody is the prophet, then Bricin “Stryker” Lyons is the sport’s Billy Graham. With not much more than “determination and a lot of beer,” this enthusiastic evangelist and punk-rock entrepreneur organizes the first legal downhill races in the world.
Belliveau obviously loves his characters and what starts out as a gonzo skate movie turns into a surprisingly heartfelt documentary that bears witness to the power of community, dedication and the DIY spirit. As Jody preaches, “You can wish in one hand and you can shit in the other, and you know damn well which one is going to get full first.” Amen, Father Schnitzel, Amen.
Director: Jaret Belliveau and Craig Jackson
Official Selection – 2011 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival
