Educational Media Reviews Online

Rising from Ashes tells the story of the first Rwandan competitive bicycling team, following the team from inception in the mid-2000s to one team member’s top-level competition in the 2012 Olympic games. Rwanda’s lush and vibrant hillsides provide both a gorgeous cinematic experience, and the perfect training ground for competitive cycling.

At the prompting of American bicycle designer Tom Ritchey, fellow American cyclist Jock Boyer (the first American to race in Le Tour De France) moves to Africa and builds a bicycling team from the ground-up. At first, Jock is inspired by the conviction, drive, and athleticism of his Rwandan athletes, qualities that uniquely suit them for the grueling demands of competitive bicycling. As much as the story is about Rwandan athletes pursuing competitive bicycling, it’s also about Jock’s personal journey of atonement for past failure, and deep devotion to the success of his team members.

The film outlines the basic historical events leading up to the 1994 genocide and describes how the country has fared since the tragedy. Through the athlete’s personal stories we learn about the impact of the heartbreaking and tragic conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes, and the lasting impact of the violence on Rwanda’s people. Each of the members was impacted in some way by the events, and each sees cycling as a beacon of hope, personally, and for national pride and reconciliation. From hillside to hillside, the road is rough for the fledgling team, but as they gain experience and recognition in competitions regionally and internationally, one can sense the pride and hope of a nation resting on the shoulders of these remarkable young men. French and Kinyarwanda language audio segments are subtitled in English.

A 3-part behind the scenes bonus feature allows the filmmakers to describe the challenges and rewards of using an American film crew to capture the interviews and film for a feature-length documentary. Jock Boyer’s jail time for a sexual assault conviction is briefly raised in the film and it may be helpful for screeners to provide advance notice of this.

This film is recommended for high school through general adult audiences.