Long Way Up

**Long Way Up** is a third installment of motorcycle road adventure documentary created by actors **Ewan McGregor** and **Charley Boorman** and filmmakers **David Alexanian** and **Russ Malkin**. The series follows **Long Way Round** (2004) and **Long Way Down** (2007). All are available on Apple TV+. Just as **Ted Lasso** isn't about soccer, **Long Way Up** isn't about riding motorcycle. It's an uplifting documentary about friendship, discovering beauty in unlikeliest places, and a testimony that the world is both big and small. On this installment, the gang begins their journey from the southern most tip of South America, Ushuaia (Argentina). Riding electric motorcycle, they weave in and out of remote parts of Argentina and Chile, then proceeding to Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico. 4K Dolby Vision cinematography from helmet-mounted cameras, iPhones, drones, and cinematographer Claudio Von Planta (among others) are something to behold. Machu Picchu installment in particular made me feel as though I was with them. It is Ewan and Charley's friendship that interconnects everything. They come across as genuine and authentic people that truly care about the world and goodness in people. Like **Ted Lasso**, watching this series made me happy.

To be honest, I am very interesting in South America and for me, in the UK, it's a pretty distant dream so to see a series all about South America was fantastic. I haven't watched the previous versions of this duo so I was looking at it fresh. I was bitterly disappointed by the lack of cultural content - I was expecting a series that would inform me about South America, rather it was about two rather pampered guys heroically having enough time to do this and regardless of environmental costs, having teams flown to San Jose, recharging stations appearing in the middle of nowhere without any context and for me somewhat self indulgent. For me, it could have been so much more ...