Satan's Choice
1966 · 27m · Canada
Directed by Donald Shebib
Genres: documentary
Tones: contemplative, provocative
Members of Toronto motorcycle club Satan's Choice speak openly about their code, identity, and way of life. The film offers a rare inside look at a fraternal riding culture found in major North American cities.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A 1966 doc that treats outlaw bikers as *subjects* rather than demons—anthropological, unsensational, almost boring in its refusal to sensationalize—which is exactly why it lands harder than any preachy counterculture tract.
Shebib's observational method sits squarely in the Grierson tradition of social documentary, letting fraternal codes emerge through unforced testimony; the formal restraint and editorial patience read as foundational work in the North American direct cinema lineage.
The film's entire emotional architecture hinges on Shebib's decision to let the riders speak at length without editorializing—one clean formal choice that transforms what could've been sociology-by-voiceover into genuine portraiture.