Race

A weekend spent watching movies is always a good idea so Marilyn and I decided on a double feature last night.  Our first movie was Race, the true story of Jesse Owens and his four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.  It begins when Owens (Stephan James) arrives at Ohio State to train with Coach Snyder (an excellent Jason Sudeikis), a former Olympic athlete trying to make a name for himself as a coach.  Despite many obstacles, such as being treated unfairly by other athletes at Ohio State, most notably the football team, needing to work constantly to support his out-of-work father and his girlfriend and their daughter, and clashing with his coach, he begins winning race after race.  When he qualifies for the Olympics, he is approached by the NAACP to boycott the Olympics in protest of Hitler's racial policies.  Ultimately, he decides to participate to show Hitler that his policies are unsound, particularly when he competes head to head in the long jump against Hitler's poster boy for Aryan superiority, Carl "Luz" Long (David Kross).  The movie ends, not with his stunning victories in Berlin, but with Owens and his wife being made to use the servant's entry to the hotel where a dinner is being given in his honor.  It is a powerful portrait of bigotry that is particularly salient in these troubling times.  I love inspirational sports movies and this is a pretty good one.  The scenes during the Olympics are epic (they reminded me of the Olympic scenes in Unbroken) and, even though I knew the outcome of every race, I was holding my breath and willing him to win!  James gives a very earnest portrayal of Owens and I felt totally invested in his story.  Where the movie bogs down is in its telling of other stories such as Snyder's failed opportunities at the Olympics, the long protracted debate between American Olympic Committee members about whether to boycott the Olympics (lots of speeches), and the efforts by filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl (Carice van Hounten) to make a propaganda film about the athletic superiority of Germany.   These subplots somewhat detract from the power of Owens' story (it is compelling enough) and make the movie much longer than it needs to be.  However, I really did love it and highly recommend it!