Two best friends re-live their incredible 25,000 mile journey following Marco Polo's fabled routes through the east.
They had no crew, no support team, just two guys from Queens, New York City with a bunch of cameras and video equipment in their backpacks slogging alone through unbelievably difficult territory, risking their lives by crossing into hostile countries without visas, or entering strictly forbidden areas. Sometimes they would get stuck in a location for weeks before being able to find a way to go on.
But these are two tough, as well as endearing dudes. They seemed to manage to make friends wherever they went, but also to stare down Chinese army officers with nothing but a bluff.
It's interesting and effective to see these guys, now ten years older, reliving the journey in an interview setting, inter-cut with their video footage and still photographs of the journey. You get both the immediacy of the events, and the benefit of hindsight and memory.
Even though the film is only 90 minutes, it somehow doesn't feel rushed, although I could have happily watched hours more. In fact, my only complaint is that I wish it was longer so we could have seen even more details. Quite unique, and a lot of educational fun.
