"In 420 boxing matches, judging disputes arose on many occasions, and four judges lost their positions."
There is some value to seeing the various Olympic events from the 1988 summer games held in Seoul, but this documentary was at its strongest when it was showing the opening and closing ceremonies, with all of the beautiful choreography. As far as the competitions go, whew, it was quite a dry, prosaic accounting, all narrated in a voice that was nearly robotic, never coming close to matching the emotional intensity of athletes giving their all in competition.
And I'm sorry, but any documentary of these games that doesn't mention that absolute robbery of the gold medal from American boxer Roy Jones Jr. In favor of home country Korea's Park Si-Hun - and not even showing a moment from that match - has a significant flaw. There have been many corrupt decisions in boxing's sordid history, but it's usually ranked the worst. To try to capture it obliquely with the quote above was ludicrous (and note that regardless, the decision was final). It also doesn't go anywhere near South Korean boxing officials storming the ring and throwing punches after Bulgaria's Alexander Hristov was ruled the winner over South Korea's Byun Jong-il, prompting the New Zealand referee to flee the country shortly afterwards.
That's one of the documentary's issues - it seemed to want most of all to create such a tidy, feel-good vision of the games and how they were administered. To be fair, it correctly points out that after the 25 African nations didn't participate in 1976, the U. S. and 66 other nations boycotted in 1980, and the Soviet Union and 18 other nations didn't attend in 1984, this was the first time in 16 years that political statements hadn't overshadowed the games (sorry, North Korea boycotting these games doesn't count for much for me either). It closes with the hope that "In the future, there should never be any scars on the purity of the Olympics," but it's hard to swallow that sentiment knowing that South Korean dictator Chun Doo-hwan prepared for the games by brutally relocating hundreds of thousands of people from low-income areas as well as imprisoning thousands off the streets, where many ended up being abused. In 1980, just eight years before the games, he massacred hundreds of people protesting for democracy in Gwangju, an event that scars the national psyche to this day, and it seems there was an overt attempt to make this film about the Olympics as pleasant as possible.
The other issue is it's just such a dry accounting. Yes, we do get lots of highlights, including upsets like Joe De Loach beating Carl Lewis in the 200m race, Australia's Duncan Armstrong coming out of nowhere to win the 200m freestyle swimming event, and Suriname's Anthony Nesty improbably defeating Matt Biondi in the Men's 100m butterfly, the last of whom was notable for being the first black swimmer to ever win gold, and for being the only athlete from Suriname even attending the games. Seeing America's Florence Griffith Joyner win races in runaways, smiling as she sprinted, West Germany's Kristin Otto winning six golds in swimming (winning every event she competed in), and American Greg Louganis coming back from hitting his head on the diving board in a preliminary round to win two golds was inspiring. And the documentary tried to represent all events, and even in areas where it felt uneven (like how briefly it covered tennis, just to name one), it didn't seem biased to any particular nation, which was refreshing. But my god, just marching through event after event to dry narration, giving us facts and figures like the height and weight of athletes, got tedious quickly. If you're looking for an artistic representation, or even one that really immerses us into the emotions of the competition, this isn't it.
When the documentary does attempt to venture into poetry or philosophy, it's terribly banal. For example, this line: "The earth has many creatures that can jump higher, run faster, or are stronger than human beings. But there is no Olympics for those creatures. In the Olympics games, it is the human spirit, not strength or technique, of which we should be most proud." Good grief. Towards the end it give us this pearl of wisdom: "They give gold medals to victors, and wisdom and strength of character to losers." It's also got the sexist (even for 1988) observation of Florence Griffith Joyner about her "fashion model looks," and how she spends 16 minutes doing makeup before each race, you know, because that's more important than delving into her personal story or years of hard work.
Strangely, in a documentary filled with all sorts of facts and figures, including the bizarre accounting of how many events were started exactly on time, which were 1 minute late, 3 minutes late, and 5 minutes late (look how well we ran these games!), there is no data presented on which country won the most medals, in keeping with the idea it pushes that it's more important to be competing and to be part of the international community. I think both these aspects can be represented, and aren't exclusive of one another. Regardless, unless you've got real nostalgia for these games, this is one to skip.
