Brussels Express: The Perils of Cycling in Europe’s Most Congested City

The Belgians take their cycling seriously. After all, it’s the birthplace of Eddy Merckx, the five time champion of the Tour de France. And it’s a country that plays host to some of the great short races in the sport: La Flèche Wallonne, E3 Harelbeke, Gent–Wevelgem, and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. If you’re familiar with these races, you know they’re not for the faint of heart, seeing that they sometimes take riders across long sections of dangerous cobblestones. (Get a feel for that here.) But when you watch this new documentary, Brussels Express, you start to wonder whether the real risks are not being taken by bike messengers in Brussels, one of the most congested cities in Europe. As David Byrne recently showed us, some modern cities (New York, Copenhagen, Modena) try to make cyclists feel at home. Not so in Brussels. Directed and shot by Sander Vandenbroucke, Brussels Express offers a commentary on something larger than cycling itself. It’s really a tale about modernity, the automobile, the choices we make in our contemporary, mechanized lives, and their social costs.