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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