BROCK: OVER THE TOP 2020
> A LIFE IN THE VERY FAST LANE
TO PROPERLY tell the story of Peter Brock isn’t to just spin a yarn about a racing car driver who happened to win a particular motor race a few times more than the next bloke. It shouldn’t be about hiding the human flaws of a true icon of modern Australian culture, either – or hanging him for the same.
Telling that tale of derring-do and dastardly deeds is a dilemma that’s been faced by writers and directors over the course of the past three decades – and it’s a subject that’s been treated poorly by some. Only now, 14 years after Brock’s death, has a film managed to walk the line between deification and denigration as finely and empathetically as Brock: Over The Top.
This 105-minute doco was originally intended for a wider cinematic release, but the crushing impact of COVID-19 on movie theatres has resulted in a largely digital roll-out – and this, folks, is a crying shame, because it’s a beauty.
Director Kriv Stenders (Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan, Red Dog) takes the various threads of Brock’s life and career and weaves them into a well-paced narrative that leaves the viewer equal parts spellbound, angered, dismayed and overjoyed right the way through.
How did Peter Brock start racing? Did he abuse his wife? Was he wrong about the Polariser? “It’s the rise and fall and rise and fall and rise and fall of Peter,” as his brother Phil says in his role as one of the observers of Brock’s meteoric ascent and crashing returns to earth throughout the course of his 61 years.
Largely anchored by former Street Machine and Wheels editor Phil Scott’s unvarnished observations from the eye of the media tornado that was the Brock phenomenon, Brock:
Over The Top pulls few punches as it examines not only Brock’s place in the motor racing lexicon but also the sizable impact the Victorian had on Australia’s cultural landscape from the late 1970s to his death in 2006.
Ably supported by reams of previously unseen vision that captures Brock’s racing career, business world and private life, the film also exposes the motoring industry that not only put Brock on the map but asked for its pound of flesh in return.
Some of the observations of Brock’s behaviours have never before been uttered so publicly. “At one stage, he’d have his steering wheel in one hand and his dick in the other,” drawls one of his former mechanics when discussing Brock’s rockstar status of the late 1970s.
The contentious topic of Brock’s first marriage to supermodel Michelle Downes, his subsequent betrothal to Bev Brock and his relationship with Julie Bamford are discussed at length. The film also briefly but poignantly touches on the events surrounding Brock’s death in a road rally in 2006 without wallowing in the maudlin or the macabre.
Even in death, Brock’s stature and status still affects those that loved him most, with cuttingly raw emotion still evident in the retelling almost 14 years after his untimely passing.
VERDICT: 4.5/5
ULTIMATELY, Brock: Over The Top provides a fascinating interpretation of a mercurial Australian character whose story brought unbridled joy to so many at the expense of an important few. The doco’s production values are impressively high, and it neither talks down to non-racing fans nor fails to pay regard to Brock’s legions of passionate admirers. Street Machine readers are sure to love it.