Waste of time

Thanks for the memories!

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The name Jesse Owens is less well known in the 21st century than it once was. But there was a time when Owens was one of the best-known men in Europe and the USA: he was the fastest man in the world, the winner of 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics. This film (the winner of my personal competition for best Film Title Around At The Moment for its simple but clever pun) tells his story, particularly his rise in US athletics under the tutelage of coach Larry Snyder and, later, the - how can one put it? - difficulties associated with the 1936 Olympics.The film puts together an interesting story, some good performances, and an excellent realisation of time and location - small-town America in the 20s and 30s and contemporary sports arenas (most of which are almost certainly gone now) and the Berlin locations - they are all brought to the screen courtesy of a mixture of actual locations and CGI, the latter of which only really shows in aerial shots.The performances are nearly all good. Stephan James is perhaps a little over-earnest as Owens, but it is a performance of sincerity and honesty. Jeremy Irons as Olympics bigwig Avery Brundage is tripped up by his American accent (again: see also Appaloosa), and Barnaby Metschurat plays Nazi minister Joseph Goebbels like a twilight vampire. But Carice van Houten (a personal favourite) makes quirky filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl interesting and likeable, and Jason Sudeikis as coach Snyder, the first non-comedy role I have seen him in, is very good.The anti-semitism and racism in Nazi Germany is, as expected, clear, but it is also understated and all the more powerful for that. What is less expected, because things have moved on so much in the interim, is the racism in the USA. Owens' success meant that he found favour because of his celebrity, but there is a very effective and sobering coda just before the closing titles roll.I don't always find "worthy" films all that entertaining - the worthiness sometimes overpowers any entertainment value - but this movie fully engaged me throughout its two and a quarter hours.

This true story of an American hero is written by Joel Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse and directed by Stephen Hopkins – a team that has managed to place before the public one of the finer biographies of a sports superstar as well as a powerful statement about racism in this country and abroad on the screen today. It is filled with excellent and sensitive performances in major and minor roles and the fact that it is not being considered for awards seems oddly uninformed.The title of the film – RACE - is most appropriately chosen as it asks the audience to transpose concepts of sportsmanship to considerations of racial bigotry both of the past and the present. And that works very well indeed. Using the extremes of Nazi Germany extermination of Jews, Blacks, gypsies, gays etc in the name of Aryan supremacy is shudderingly demonstrated, but equally difficult is the manner in which the film places a mirror to America, both in the more blatant era of the 1930s (in schools, restaurants, and African American families) of the hurtful racism that still exists is so important for us to see enacted on the big screen.Briefly, Jesse Owens' quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history thrusts him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler's vision of Aryan supremacy. But more specifically, in the 1930s, Jesse Owens (Stephan James in an Oscar worthy performance) is a young man who is the first in his family to go to college. Going to Ohio State to train under its track and field coach, Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis, proving that he is a fine actor in a fine film instead of just another silly goofus as in his usual films), the young African American athlete quickly impresses with his tremendous potential that suggests Olympic material. However, as Owens struggles both with the obligations of his life and the virulent racism against him, the question of whether America would compete at all at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany is being debated vigorously. When the American envoy (Jeremy Irons) finds a compromise persuasive with the Third Reich to avert a boycott, Owens has his own moral struggle about going – not only the race issues but leaving behind his girlfriend (Shannon Banton) and their child. Upon resolving that issue, Owens and his coach travel to Berlin to participate in a competition that would mark Owens as the greatest of America's Olympians even as the German film director, Leni Riefenstahl (Carice van Houten), locks horns with her country's Propaganda Minister, Josef Goebbels (Barnaby Metschurat), to film the politically embarrassing fact for posterity.There are many significant minor roles portrayed by William Hurt, Eli Goree, Jonathan Higgins, Shamier Anderson, and especially David Kross who plays Carl 'Luz' Long – Jesse's German rival with whom Jesse finds support and understanding in a very moving scene. There are many reasons to see this film, or better yet town it to share with others. It is an outstanding achievement with a very important message.

Although I enjoy history, I'm not so into it that I can tell you whether there are significant discrepancies between this film and reality. So, I'm going to focus on the film itself. And in regard to that, this film truly impressed me.What was strongest here, in my view, were a number of the performances. First off, Stephan James as Jesse Owens is remarkable. As I began watching I remembered that he had played John Lewis in the film "Selma". He was very good there, and even better here. Let's put it this way...I hope to see more of him in films in the future.I understand that many people questioned Jason Sudeikis playing Owens' coach. I guess I'm too old, but I'm not familiar with Sudeikis, but I think it's a really good and convincing performance. A lot of comedians are also excellent actors. If this is representative, Sudeikis may be in that category.Jeremy Irons, looking old here, is excellent as Avery Brundage of the IOC. I was interested to see David Kross as Carl "Luz" Long, a German athlete who befriended Owens. Kross was superb a few years back in "The Reader". This is a much smaller role, but key to the story. The one mistake in casting was whoever the actor was who played Adolf Hitler. I didn't feel it looked like Hitler at all, and since the actor had no speaking part, it was difficult to judge, but it was the one thing in the film I would really criticize.I'm not much into sports, but occasionally I find a film about sports that I really enjoy. I enjoyed one immensely. I highly recommend it. It seems very realistic in terms of locations (which to a large extent are real) and in terms of racial attitudes of the era...and I mean that as much about the United States as I do about Germany. What our Black citizens had to go through makes me weep.

There is a lot of important history presented in this movie. There is some spin as well. The film does go over Owens records - Jesse set or tied national high school records in the 100 yard dash, 200-yard dash, and the long jump. After a stellar high school career, he attended Ohio State University. On May 25, 1935, at the Big Ten Conference Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Owens broke three world records (long jump, 220- yard dash and 220-yard low hurdles) and tied a fourth (100-yard dash), all in a 45 minute span.In his junior year at Ohio State, Owens competed in 42 events and won them all, including four in the Big Ten Championships, four in the NCAA Championships, two in the AAU Championships and three at the Olympic Trials.In 1936, Jesse became the first American in Olympic Track and Field history to win four gold medals in a single Olympiad by winning four gold medals: 100 meter dash in 10.3 seconds (tying the world record), long jump with a jump of 26' 5 1/4" (Olympic record), 200 meter dash in 20.7 seconds (Olympic record), and 400 meter relay (first leg) in 39.8 seconds (Olympic and world record). In 1976, Jesse was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award bestowed upon a civilian, by Gerald R. Ford. Owens was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush.Very good acting by the entire cast in this one. The acting and the script here are powerful. It is amazing that Truman, JFK, LBJ, Carter, and Reagan never honored Owens. At least Cleavon Little and Mel Brooks mentioned him in Blazing Saddles.The sad truth to the Owens story is how much it hammers home the racism in the US in the 1930's, as FDR never even honored Owens. The film loses accuracy points on the concern of people in the US about racism in Nazi Germany. Yes, the NAACP asked Owens not to compete, but no, that organization was not speaking for the majority of Americans at that time. That is a more modern spin on this story as this same point of view is being used to justify apologizing for things that happened 200 years ago. It would not change history.If Owens had not gone to Berlin, no one would have noticed. Because he did, the world noticed though it changed very little of what would come to be.