Hearing Jorge Ramirez talk about what he loves about cars is really inspiring even if, like me, you don’t know the mechanics. Towards the end of Carly and Jared Jakins Oscar-qualified documentary short Rat Rod, Ramirez describes how you can rebuild something from nothing. ‘You grab and old body, everything’s missing…just give new life to an old vehicle.’ The true American dream is on full display–don’t let things go to waste and take nothing for granted.
We go from building a bike to seeing how a car can be put together, but the Jakins’ film is a curious portrait of how we let roots take hold. It doesn’t come all at once, but rather bit by bit just like how Ramirez describes buying and finding bike parts. First, it’s a chain and then it’s the handlebars or the brakes. Perhaps it takes a while to save up for the right size of a set of wheels.
We spend most of our time inside Ramirez’s garage. The lights are low and the windows might need a wipedown. He describes how his family moves from Mexico to Utah before he mentions how he saw men dressed in KKK outfits right outside his school. He speaks about his father admiringly We imagine that Ramirez tells all sorts of stories like this, but the Jakins do not overstay their welcome.
Rat Rod is a declaration of one’s own life–how the sum of our identity is not just parts. It’s refined in its patience and is proof that every person who wishes a better life for themselves and their family must do so one step at a time. We are more alike that we know.
Rat Rod is streaming via Switchboard Magazine’s YouTube.
