FreestyleXtreme Magazine Issue 2 | Page 38

p back to contents Film Review: 12 O’Clock Boys Director - Lotfy Nathan Available - Out Now: DVD, Blu-ray, Streaming and Download “If you can get it to 12 O’Clock – you’re the s**t” - Pug P UG, A WISECRACKING, THIRTEEN-year-old living on a dangerous Westside block in Baltimore, USA, has one goal in mind: to join the 12 O’Clock Boys. The notorious urban dirt bike crew take to the streets on Sundays in their hundreds, popping wheelies at insane speeds down the main streets - riding with total disregard for traffic laws and roadblocks. The police are a constant presence, but out of concern for public safety they are forbidden from engaging the gang in pursuits. In Lotfy Nathan’s wild, dynamic documentary (made over three and a half summers), their stunning antics are seen through the eyes of this young adolescent - Pug - a bright kid obsessed with the 12 O‘Clock Boys, and willing to do anything to join their ranks. 38 | FreestyleXtreme Premiering to critical acclaim at the SXSW and Hot Docs film festivals (where Nathan won the HBO Emerging Artist Award), 12 O’Clock Boys provides a compelling and intimate personal story of a young boy and his dangerous, unexpected dream. I remember around a year ago a friend of mine showing me a short clip of the 12 O’Clock Boys on YouTube. ‘This is nuts’ I remember thinking – ‘props to those guys’. We then went on to watch some dude crashing his customised lawnmower in Lithuania or something. It wasn’t until a couple of months ago when someone else lent me their copy of the 12 O’Clock Boys DVD, that I realised someone had actually made a full film about this unique crew of dirt bikers. Having been a massive fan of HBO’s ‘The Wire’, which is also set in Baltimore - and features a lot of characters with a similar lifestyle and background to the 12 O’Clock Boys - I was super excited to check out a documentary about these guys from the ghetto who can pretty much all wheelie a dirt bike way better than I can! Not knowing which angle film maker Lotfy Nathan was going to take on this documentary, and what spin he was going to put on the story, I sat down with great anticipation an d hit play. One of the first things that hits your mind when watching 12 O’Clock Boys is the sheer craziness of the scenario in which this story is told. You’ve got this crew of guys from inner city Baltimore, one of the most crime and drug ridden cities in America, and they’re all totally obsessed with dirt bikes. It’s mad. For many of the Baltimore youth, the dirt bike community represents a means of edification and mentorship in a city that otherwise has few resources and promise for children. In a neighbourhood rampant with drugs and violence, the dirt bike pack seems to be a way of escape. Not long into the film, it quickly becomes apparent that being a 12 O’Clock Boy is