Watching the Golden Globes award show the other night, I was surprised to see this excellent Belgian beer commercial that tells the story of two brothers in a circa 1930s tandem bicycle race.
Entitled “The Race,” the 1:30-minute commercial for Stella Artois looks like it came directly from the pages of a book on the history of cycling in the Alps and Pyrenees, right down to the dusty roads and stone buildings.
Searching around, I discovered that the footage was shot on the Mediterranean island of Majorca (Mallorca in Spanish). The extras were cycling fanatics from the mountainous island, and the photos at the end of the piece came from a widow whose husband was a local cycling legend.
Locale
While the scenery was supposed to evoke the Alps or Pyrenees, director Dougal Wilson from Blink Productions told 'Boards magazine (“Of Bikes and Beer”) that those roads were now paved. On Majorca, however, they found dirt roads that could support their equipment vehicles.
Another plus for Majorca is that the weather and terrain made it a mecca for cyclists. The 28 cyclists who participated in the filming, except for the two brothers, were all Majorca residents. The two main actors were cast in France, as they had the look of the French cyclists of the period.
Props
The opening scene was shot in the northern Majorcan town of Muro, where local folks helped produce a lot of the props in the spot. Blink producer Ciska Faulkner told 'Boards:
“We found a lot of the props and bits and pieces that we needed to authenticate the film from his research and resourcefulness. He found a woman on the island who was in her late 80s whose late husband was a cycle hero in his time. She gave Guido original photographs of her husband as a famous cyclist. She allowed us to use the photos you see on the wall [in the closing scene].”
The tandem bicycles and vintage racing costumes all came from the UK, according to 'Boards.
Story
Apparently the Stella Artois beer commercials are known for telling stories. In this one, the two brothers are competing in a bicycle race that their father had failed to win. The bike flats out near a remote tavern where one brother sees a Stella being poured.
Unable to continue, he sabotages the bicycle by puncturing the rear tire, and the two give up and quaff a couple of brews. Looking at photos on the wall, they see a picture of their father in cycling attire relaxing at the same spot with a beer.
Stella
I'll have to search for Stella Artois now so I can do a taste test. It's brewed in Belgium and owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, the international company created in 2008 when Belgium-based InBev acquired US-based Anheuser-Busch as a subsidiary.
The commercial was created by Lowe Roche/Lowe Worldwide and produced by Blink Productions.
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