A Map For Saturday

Year: 2007

Grade: B+

Country: USA

Director: Silva-Braga

Review

first saw this documentary in a truncated form on mtv; that makes it one of the top 5 things of all-time to air on mtv. it’s a great documentary about a man who quits his job and goes on a road trip around the world for a year. as someone who has traveled for a long period of time (though nothing close to what he did) i completely understood what it was like to be on the road for the first time and get the feeling of dread: “what the hell am i doing this for?” as well as the feelings of freedom and reluctance to join real society again. it encapsulates these feelings so much better than something like “into the wild” and does it without being pretentious or over-bearing or dishonest. silva-braga is honest about the pitfalls of life on the road and the niceties of a more conventional life. the truth, though, is that life on the road is a freeing, philosophical, wonderful way of life and people like me and him would probably choose to live it 6 months out of the year if we could afford it. this is a must see for anyone who has done, or is planning on doing, extensive traveling.