Video: "Undaunted" is the best motorcycle racing film I've seen in a long time

I recommend you watch a new film called "Undaunted" about Andrea Dovizioso. I know some will immediately react, "Nah, Dovizioso's not the most interesting guy the paddock," but I think that's mistaken. The most interesting story is not the guy winning championships but the man struggling against an unnaturally talented opponent and coming in second. That struggle makes the story.

What makes this one-hour film special is more than just the imagery and excellent editing. It is the way the film goes beyond the daily race coverage and even beyond previous feature films like "Faster" to reveal the pressure of a racer's life. This is not the scripted version of reality where the team and rider are one happy family.

Everyone at the MotoGP level is motivated, competitive, demanding. That creates tremendous stress and tension on everyone except the team that just won, and for them the relief only lasts a short time before the pressure resumes. The filmmakers' access gives them the opportunity not just to tell you about the tension and pressure in the paddock, but also to show it written across Dovizioso's face as he confronts criticism and second-guessing from team bosses, TV commentators, the CEO and more.

In one scene, Dovizioso is working with a sports psychologist, Dario Boschiero, who has determined that Dovizioso is in the perfect mental state when he is training by riding his motocross bike. Boschiero asks Dovizioso how he feels when he's riding the motocross bike, and the MotoGP rider responds that he feels the adrenaline, the power, and a sense of freedom. Boschiero tells him he must find another version of that same feeling of freedom every time he lines up for a MotoGP race.

"But there is none," Dovizioso responds, declaring that freedom impossible. "In MotoGP you are caged."

Watch the film and you'll understand how the seemingly glamorous life of a MotoGP rider can feel like living in an ever-tightening vise.

Red Bull has not made the film available for embedding, so you have to view it on the Red Bull web site.

Since you won't be watching the opening race of the MotoGP season this weekend, you'll probably have time to set aside an hour to watch "Undaunted." I recommend it.