Hollywood knows that one genre is almost certain to get the audience’s blood pumping and pulse racing: the sports story. CREED certainly proved that a few months ago (you’d think audiences were watching a real live boxing match, judging from the all the cheering at the multiplex). Couple that on-screen excitement with a dramatic true story, and you’ve hopefully got a critical and box office hit. And while professional sports may be tainted and tarnished thanks to bad behavior and big bucks, the amateur athletes still have a purity and nobility about them. There have been plenty of college (WE ARE MARSHALL), high school (HOOSIERS), and even grade school (THE BAD NEWS BEARS) team tales, but for individual triumphs, the four-year spectacle, the Olympics, abound in stories of glory and drama. Well 2016 just so happens to be an olympic year, so the studios are launching the first of several such true tales of courage today. Next week I’ll be back with a charming, funny film fable from the 1988 Winter games, and in March we’ll get a raunchy fictional comedy set in that competitive backdrop. But for now, we travel all the way back to 1936, eighty years,for a film whose title has a double meaning: RACE.
The focus of RACE is the incredible story of that track and field wonder, African-American icon Jesse Owens (Stephan James). We meet him as he prepares to enroll at Ohio State University. Jesse packs his suitcase, dresses in his best (and only) suit, and says his goodbye to his family in their crowded rundown apartment in the slums of Cleveland. Ohio. And he also bids adieu to his longtime gal, beautician Ruth (Shanice Banton) and their two-year old (out-of-wedlock) daughter Gloria. Arriving on campus, he heads to the office of track and field coach Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis) to become part of the college team. Despite their awkward first meeting, Snyder is impressed by Owens’s school records and helps him land a part-time job as he trains him for the upcoming Big Ten meet in Ann Arbor (all while dealing with the rampant racism in the sports department). When Jesse breaks three world records(within an hour), his dreams of Olympic gold begin. Meanwhile in New York City, the United States Olympic Committee is engaged in a heated debate about the upcoming Summer games in Berlin, Germany. Jeremiah Mahoney (William Hurt) is horrified at the actions of Chancellor Adolf Hitler and believes the US should boycott the games, while Avery Brundage (Jeremy Irons) believes that the Olympics should put politics aside. It is decided that Avery will travel to Berlin and check out the atmosphere there. Meanwhile Jesse begins a fling with a nightclub regular, Quincella (Chantel Riley), that threatens to end his relationship to Ruth and derail his sports career. Luckily he gets his priorities straight while German officials assure Avery that all will be in order (this after he observes their brutal treatment of the Jewish community), and is introduced to the film maker that will chronicle the games, Leni Riefenstahl (Carice van Houten) for the feature film OLYMPIA. But will the local organizers keep their promises of “fair play” when Jesse and the rest of the American team arrive in Berlin?
As Owens, Stephan James projects strength and determination helping us comprehend the real man’s incredible achievements. Through his eyes and body language we see how this gifted man had to temper himself while navigating through a society that embraced his accomplishments while denigrating him for his color. Even as he takes a walk on the wild side with his “jazz baby” temptress, James still goes us a hero that we can applaud (the dalliance makes him more human) despite his foibles. Sudeikis breaks free of his motor-mouthed, wise guy comic persona as Coach Snyder. He’s a man of deep regret (we learn during a terrific monologue) who vows to guide Owens to fulfill the promise that Snyder himself squandered. All the while he becomes a surrogate father to Owens, one who bristles and barks back at the ignorant while Owens must remain silent. Irons as Brundage is all businessman as the sight of Nazi brutality disgusts him. His admiration for the Olympic ideals too often blinds him to the injustices behind the scenes. Ultimately, he submits too easily. Hurt shines in a role that is basically a cameo (despite the billing in the ads), his Mahoney knows that Hitler only wishes to use the games to glorify and promote his own agenda. Ms. van Houten, like James, is determined not to let her hard work and talents be exploited. Though Goebbels and his goons try to thwart her, Leni wants to tell the whole story with no filters.
Director Stephens Hopkins does a good job at keeping the story coherent while maintaining a steady pace. Unfortunately the script from Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel attempts to tell too many tales at once, any of which could have been made into separate movies. There’s the whole debate within the committee, the wheeling and dealing between Germany and Brundage, and certainly the making of OLYMPIA could make for interesting films. The constant interruptions detract from the Owens story. It doesn’t help that we only meet him after his teenage years, which doesn’t tell us just how his running and jumping prowess began (plus there’s the whole romance with Ruth plus their then scandalous behavior) . And aside from a brief mid credit scene, we don’t see Owens’s life after the gold medals (we know he’s part of a great joke in BLAZING SADDLES, but …). The 1930’s are expertly recreated with vintage fashions and autos, while CGI convincingly places us next to Jesse inside that massive studium with thousands looking down. Plus those track performances (especially the long jump) are inspiring in their visual power. Fewer subplot negotiations and more athletics would have made RACE as light on its feet as the miraculous Mr. Owens himself.
3 Out of 5
