Show of Hands

Show of Hands is an off-beat love story centered on a car yard in an everyday suburb, where an endurance competition with a difference is being staged. The competition requires entrants to place a hand on a new Land Rover Discovery and keep it there. The winner of the car will be the person who keeps their hand continuously on it the longest. The world record for such a competition is over 5 days. Attracted to this gruelling Darwinian contest are people from every walk of life who, for one reason or another - avarice, poverty, anger, revenge, despair, loyalty, love - see their salvation in winning the glistening car.

Inspired by a true story, Show of Hands pits all these motivations against each other and, in a gruelling social experiment, reveals which human drive is the strongest. While it is an ensemble piece, the primary focus is on two people: Tom is a single, obstinate but charismatic bankrupt. He’s a lovable rogue and so brutally blunt to everybody that it’s funny. We like him, despite his shortcomings, which are mainly that he seems willing to do anything to win. He’s addicted to competition. He lives alone. Go figure. The other, Jess, is a single mother and a park warden, and is at first only interested in winning the car to help her invalided child. She’s nice as pie but feels (as we do) that she isn’t going to go very far. Not, at least, until her motives for winning unexpectedly change after Tom rubs her up the wrong way. Sometimes letting go is the only way to win.