For better and worse, the name of the barely famous Canadian stunt driver Ken Carter (a.k.a. The Mad Canadian) will always be associated with the name of his much more famous American counterpart Evel Knievel.

Both men made their livings cheating death, jumping vehicles over a series of ever-more-daunting barriers, breaking records and bones in equal measure.

Carter’s career was, well, just more Canadian, which is to say obscure. After Knievel unsuccessfully tried to fly a motorcycle over Snake River Canyon in Idaho, Carter got the notion of flying a Lincoln Continental a whole mile over a stretch of the St. Lawrence River as the ultimate challenge of his career.

What followed was not so much a test of courage but endurance, as Carter kept cancelling the jump over a period of years, determined to do it without killing himself in the process.

That effort was captured by the National Film Board feature The Devil at Your Heels, which forms the basis of Michael Dowse’s dramatic feature The Stunt Driver.

Dowse and actor Jay Baruchel previously collaborated on the Manitoba-lensed Canfilm classic Goon (2011), Dowse as director and Baruchel as star and co-writer with Evan Goldberg.

It was of a piece with other Dowse movies, such as Fubar (2002) or It’s All Gone Pete Tong (2004). Thematically, Dowse has made a specialty out of portraying reckless machismo.

Curiously, The Stunt Driver is not that. Following the template of Robert Fortier’s 1981 NFB doc, Dowse (who also wrote the script) offers up a measured, surprisingly circumspect view of Carter as a man who truly believes he is fulfilling an inspirational service to his fans, risking his own life so they don’t have to risk their own.

Of course, there is a bit of narcissism in play too, as one might expect when at some points in his life, two different film crews are following him around and documenting every move he makes.

In one scene, the film meets the current moment of American aggression towards Canada, with Baruchel (who incidentally has a Canadian flag tattooed on his chest) ranting about his rival Knievel (Ben Foster in appropriate cock-of-the-walk mode) being brought on board his mission as an adviser. The scene serves as a succinct crystallization of Canada-U.S. relations just now, the one moment in the film that might make Canuck audiences cheer.

On the other hand, Americans are more charitably represented by engineer Dick Keller (Ed Helms), who is enlisted to help build the rocket car against his better judgment. Keller understands this vehicle is essentially a bomb with wheels and, when he can’t dissuade Carter, signs on to at least do his best to keep him alive.

Baruchel is soulful and funny in the role of Carter, which helps, since the tone of the overall film is sustained frustration. Carter aches to be featured on ABC’s Wide World of Sports, but his story doesn’t feature a lot of the “thrill of victory,” while giving us “the agony of defeat” in spades.

But that, too, is a very Canadian perspective, isn’t it?

Here’s what glory looks like with the blinders off.

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