Focus Features
In 1936, the Olympic Games were held in Berlin, Germany which was in the midst of Nazi control. This was prior to World War II and the invasion of Poland, with WWI not far behind, so people weren’t really interested in another war. But it was also after the decision for Berlin to host, which was made in 1931 before the Nazis came to power. At the time, there was a lot of controversy about whether or not to boycott. Naturally, the planned future Olympics for 1940 and 1944 were called on account of war.
African American track and field college athlete Jesse Owens attended the 1936 games and broke quite a few records, thumbing his nose at the notions of Aryan supremacy. He’s kind of an important historical figure so there’s a concern many have had that it’ll be screwed up. Red Tails comes to mind as a wasted movie. But what about this one?
Race stars Stephan James as Jesse Owens and starts with the days right before he heads off to Ohio State. He leaves behind his love and mother to his daughter Ruth (Shanice Banton) with promises to send back money and eventually be settled enough to marry her. So there’s our setup of potential conflict. At Ohio State, he catches the eye of coach Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis) who looks past the racist prejudices rampant of the era and sees Jesse’s talent. There’s a bit of stuff with his training and a very small amount of dealing with some of the racism on campus.
Soon enough he becomes a record breaking athlete and achieves national fame, leading to more conflict when he’s tempted by girls on the road. This was a bit weak, yet I don’t know that it should’ve been cut, because it served to show Jesse Owens as not just a perfect hero, but as a great athlete with real flaws.
Now here’s where it gets interesting, and I’m not sure if I think it entirely works. Jeremy Irons plays Avery Brundage, who was on the American Olympic committee and helped prevent the American boycott. There’s quite a few scenes of his discussions and debating, plus his interesting (if oddly placed) scenes of visiting Germany. There he meets the horrible Joseph Goebbels (played by Barnaby Metschurat doing an impeccable job as the sociopathic monster) who’s running the Berlin games, and Leni Riefenstahl (Carice van Houten from Game of Thrones) who was a film director and well respected by Hitler.
There is a lot of focus on Goebbels and Riefenstahl, really showing the latter as fairly progressive considering the situation. I’m not sure the need, really. Why did we need to see the propagandist (talented as a filmmaker though she was) played so positively? I’m just not sure. As for Goebbels, I guess it’s fine to show him as awful and racist, considering he was, as a sort of counterpoint to the less obviously bigoted Americans who are still bigoted if not as monstrous.
Naturally we soon get to the scenes of Jesse performing in Berlin, preceded by some scenes of “conflict” where Jesse isn’t sure if he’ll be competing. Yeah, fine, except we already know he did! Not quite as effective, to be honest. But the scenes of competition were amazing, emotional and beautiful. Stephan James was great here, critical in showing off the complex emotions at play. I’m not sure how much of the athletics he personally did, but whatever he did do looked fantastic.
The rest of the cast was strong too, and it was great to Jason Sudeikis in a more dramatic role. He’s got some decent chops, even if he’s more gifted comedically. Jeremy Irons was obviously good, but … not sure his character needed to be so much in the movie. This movie was over two hours long, and although it was paced pretty well, that’s a lot of movie.
Listen, I think it’s probably a good idea to focus on some of those parallels of racism to America and the modern era, useful for the filmmakers to pay attention to. That said, there were probably a few times it seemed heavy-handed and pointless. Other times it was one of those “welp, yep” like when the Olympic committee guys recognize that they wouldn’t allow black or Jewish members to their clubs yet they still think the Nazis are going too far. The more things change …
As a story about a real life figure, I think the parts that focused on Jesse himself worked well, the other parts not quite as much. We didn’t need as much on Riefenstahl if you ask me, even if it’s nice to see Carice van Houten in something other than Game of Thrones. I guess I feel pretty positively about the movie, but you know, it’s a historical sports movie. Those aren’t for everyone, and I think people know if they do. If you like that sort of thing, I think you’d like this one too.
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