Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Jeremy Coon, Tim Skousen
	Actors: Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala, Jayson Lamb
	Country: USA
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 24.02.2017, VOD, 40" TV
Synopsis: In 1982, a bunch of 11 years old start the ambitious project of re-shooting scene by scene a movies they have just been fascinated with in the theater: Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Review: The true story of those kids is amazing: they spent all of their free time for six years filming this homage entitled Raider of the Lost Ark: the Adaptation, reminding me of the genius Peter Jackson who also spent many a summer directing his Bad Taste. What happened after they completed the movie is also touching: how they lost contact, went very different ways and all but forgot about their creation. The end product is of poor quality (simple re-creation of the scenes with little details, parts filmed on VHS, amateur actors aging from one scene to the next...) but fascinating to people like Eli Roth (director of Cabin Fever, Hostel 1-2 and The Green Inferno, played in Piranha 3D and Inglorious Basterds, produced The Last Exorcism and Grindhouse, and personal friend to Quentin Tarantino) who apparently kind of re-discovered it when showing it to a cinema room full of hardcore movie lovers. The Documentary alternates in a very predictable manner between interviews, a few scenes of the movie including behind-the-scenes of some very dangerous stunts, and the recent story of the three friends re-united to film the one missing scene to their adaptation (the one of the plane explosion) after collecting enough money on Kickstarter. One can't help but being touched when we see them in front of a standing ovation after showing the movie, or when they are invited to meet Steven Spielberg who tells them that they inspire him.
Rating: 5 /10