Peaks of Life by Kris Forrest and Chris Seager

Semi-professional mountain biker Tom Wheeler has loved the sport since childhood. But a crash while racing downhill led to a serious injury that thwarted his hopes of competing at elite level. This film follows Tom's pioneering treatment and rehabilitation as he attempts to scale new heights.

This film is Rated by the BBC Fresh team. Rated films are those the team or guest reviewers enjoyed, and feel are worth highlighting because of their production techniques. Reviews may contain spoilers.

David Quinn, BBC Fresh researcher, says:

The main reason I rate this film is because of the strength of the story. Filmmakers Kris and Chris have really found a great subject. The uplifting message about overcoming adversity feels completely honest when you think about what Tom has gone through.

The way the film is organised works well – you can see from the outset that an accident has affected the film’s main character but it’s only as the film gets around halfway through that the full extent of it becomes clear. This is a great way of holding the viewers’ attention without giving everything away at the start.

Technically, the film is also very good. The opening scene showing the accident has a great, ominous soundtrack and the use of graphics showing Tom’s date of birth – hinting at medical records – is suggestive about what’s to come. There’s then a great cut at around 30 seconds that takes us back to seeing a young child on a bike, which is a great use of home video archive. The mountain biking shots are well composed and the use of slow motion adds to the drama.

I like the length of the film – it’s a good example of how to edit a short. At just under six minutes, it really holds the viewer’s attention without any narrative “flab”. It left me wanting to know even more about Tom’s story and you can easily imagine the potential for a longer film exploring Tom’s rehabilitation further.