I guess that it is this part of the journey which I hated most, and was really difficult to edit. When Paul's shock absorber goes on the Algerian border, I childishly lose my temper. It is only in retrospet that I realise that, and it is harsh to have to admit. But my justification for including this sequence is two-fold. Firstly, it is the reality of the trip. We are in big machines which can breakdown, and you need to know how to fix them. Secondly, it is tempting to edit myself as a funny man with deep ideas (see the rest of the film), but it is important to reflect that I become stupid too, as it matches my personality.
This was the fundamental challenge that I encountered whilst editing this film and the reason it took me so long. In drama, you construct a character around a series of actions that try to express their realism. In documentary, people often become homogenised, and made to seem 'intelligent', or perhaps 'mad'. In character documentaries it is quite hard to shape the person you know, using the footage you have, that reflects the person's depth. Failure to do so makes people annoyed that you have misrepresented them. I hope, and believe, that Paul, Martin and Jack are all happy with the way they are represented, and that they feel I represented myself accordingly also.
