Combat sans Haine

Fight Without Hate is a documentary about the 5th Winter Olympics, held in St. Moritz Switzerland in 1948. Historically, this was a significant event as they were the first Olympic games held in 12 years. Tensions were still high from World War II and as a result, Germany and Japan were not invited to participate and Russia sat it out.

One would think that the makers of the film would capitalize on this subtext but it is barely referenced at all other than a bit of narration at the end of the movie (which is where the movie's title comes from.) In fact, the makers of the movie seem strangely uninterested in anything related to the games. Most of the events are indifferently filmed, with the athletes sometimes seemingly randomly selected. (There are a couple exceptions to this, the most notable ones being a couple hockey games and the men's ski jump.) This problem is aggravated by the utterly bizarre narration. It would appear that the film makers were worried that the viewers would find the games as boring as they apparently did, so they added multiple bits of "comedy relief." The narrator is frequently interrupted by his wife who is constantly hectoring him for money to buy clothes with and another man who has wandered into the booth to flirt with the wife. The result is that the narrator spends half of the movie making jokes about the fickleness of women. When he does get around to describing the events, he is prone to make comments on the appearances of the female athletes.

Some of the material is thrilling despite the way it is presented, but mostly the movie is flat. One notable exception is the treatment of figure skating near the end of the movie which uses trick photography and editing to turn the event into abstract art. You won't learn too much about the competitors, but it is pleasing to the eyes.