It's hard to tell about the reality presented in "Olympics 40", even though it was inspired on actual events related with a Polish POW camp where
prisoners conducted a special 1940 Olympics during World War II, since the actual sports event was cancelled because of the war. Watching the film sounds
as something unlikely and unbelievable despite a slightly plausible representation of those games and how it was conducted in secrecy from the Nazi-German authorities,
yet it all happened and it comes from the accounts of Teodor Niewiadomski, a Polish soldier who lived those events, escaped several times from those
stalags and survived the war.
Writer/director Andrzej Kotkowski brings the story of those military men from all over Europe (but mostly were Polish) surviving extreme hardships,
breaking rocks for the Germans and other hard labors. Most of them also happen to be sportists who competed in 1936 Olympics and were destined to compete
in the following games of 1940, in Japan - same fate of a German captain of the camp who encounters a fellow sportsman there. In order to not let their
spirit of union break, they conduct their own games at night, in hiding, from pedalling on bikes to object throwing and sprinting, all done in an improvised
manner. There are symbollic awards, the Olympics banner is created and there's moments of celebration (done in a very poetic manner with the characters
imagining they're on the actual Olympics hearing a triumphant song).
But a few things get on their way to make things running such as the extreme penalties some of the prisoners receive at those hard labors; the suspicious
of a German commander (we never get to know where did it came from, he just knows something happens); and a Polish prisoner who doesn't understand why his comrades
and his leader want to make those games. This latter character makes some obvious valid points since they're prisoners and they shouldn't forget their trapped
reality neither forget about the fact they're soldiers during wartime; and he's the one who's convinced to spy for the German to share about what's happening
at their barracks - only the magic of movies that somehow this exact man gets torn apart with such dilema.
"Olympics 40" is a compelling film but the story isn't all that much on the same lines. It demands a deeper thought from its audience into finding good
reasonings for the competition created among the prisoners, since we don't have expressive characters sharing their hearts and minds over the purpose. It's
not like in "Victory" (1981) where the soccer game against the Germans were used as an escape plan, it's more in common with "Unbroken" (2014), the real story of Louis
Zamperini and how he survived his period on a Japanese camp. It's more about the power of mind and body, keeping oneself strong and sane on insane times -
but it's not deep as the recent film.
There's something in "Olympics 40" that doesn't resonate too strong to make it an amazing film, it feels as if there's something missing. Even though it's taken
from a real story, there isn't much to be known about it since it's not exactly based on Teodor's story (he's not present in the film, possibly a composite) and some
audiences won't find believable, despite its countless real references. I can use imagination, but at the same time it's hard to believe that those men spend a
whole day and afternoon on extreme hard works, with only 15 minutes break to have water, nearly starving themselves to death and during sleep time they'll go into
sports, pshyical stuff.
But it's easy to like the movie as there are many strong, memorable moments, and it's one of the very few where the sports and Olympics cliche of
unity and human excellence felt real and important. Secluded in this Babel of sorts, where they barely understood each other, through the art of sport they
found a connection that made them feel alive and forget about the potential death. 7/10.
