La couleur de la victoire

Attention younger generations:

Avery Brundage was an unapologetic and unbending racist Nazi sympathizer. To portray him as this farcical film does, as a hero fighting for Jesse Owens so perverts history that it should be a crime. And, Leni Reifenstal WAS a Nazi and supported Hitler and his actions throughout the war and its buildup without reservation.

The main underlying objective of this movie seems to be that Avery Brundage wasn't the renowned corrupt amoral Nazi sympathizer and racist anti-semite that history knows him to have been. For me, one of the most compelling stories in our history was totally ruined by the complete re-writing of history to vindicate the American racist anti-semitic Brundage, one of the most vile, despicable, destructive forces in the history of sport, not just for America but the world. Brundage was absolutely explicit in his contempt for Owens, Jews, and African-Americans, and never made ANY protests over the treatment of Owens or any other American.

Additionally, Leni Reifenstal supported the Nazis and Hitler without reservation throughout the regime, and if she indeed prevailed to film Owens, it was for the sake of the film, not because she rejected Hitler's racism and anti-semitism.

Why the history lesson and very little about the film? Because films like this which pervert history distort this and future generation's understanding of the times and the people. Everything but the fictional propaganda of a script, full of more lies than Trump and Clinton told all year, and ending with a totally fabricated meeting between Owens and Reifenstal, one last attempt to rescue her reputation and bastardize history.

This is appalling piece of film making. Beautifully told lies are still lies, and this film is one gigantic lie.

Race, a film about the legendary Olympian Jesse Owens, is a story that deserves a good biopic. Owens means more to me for what his achievement meant to politics than as an athlete; "Race" is an obviously perfect title for concisely referring to both. The film itself is competently done in many of its technical aspects, although the way the names of places are paraded on screen when the story switches settings is tacky, at best. James gives a good performance; much of the film's handling of his story is well done.

The problem is that the film attempts to include too much. There's not much reason why this needed to go above the two-hour mark. We see a lot of scenes where Owens isn't present, and many of these don't need to be here. He don't need a story about the general history of Nazi Germany; we don't need to see the conflicts between Goebbels and his film director; we don't even need to see as much as what we saw about the debate as to whether the US should boycott the Olympics. Immaterial, and trimming can heighten impact. I was half- expecting we'd get a scene depicting Hitler committing suicide in his bunker. Still, on the whole, Race, as a story about Owens, makes a nice statement.

'Race' is an overall entertaining movie hampered by some fairly predictable flaws. It features pretty standard sports movie clichés, e.g., hard-ass coach with heart of gold, rival who becomes best friend, etc. The personal (melo)drama seems pretty mundane, and, as to be expected in historical dramas, certain liberties are taken with the facts for dramatic purposes. But there is interesting dramatic tension in the scenes in which the US Olympics commission debates boycotting the '36 games, and in Owens' personal struggle over whether to compete in the face of certain factions of the black community entreating him not to. The actual scenes of competition are presented in an exciting fashion. My favorite scene captures Owens' P.O.V. as he enters Berlin Stadium at the height of pre-War Nazi pageantry, Hindenburg flying overhead, Hitler waving in the stands to a thunderous chorus of "Sieg Heils." It must have been overwhelming. Carice van Houten plays Leni Refienstahl as a sympathetic character, defying Goebbel's orders to tell the true story of the 1936 Olympics, and Stephan James as Owens provides an enjoyable leading performance.

They say those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I guess this motto is the reason Hollywood continues to make historical figure movies at least once a year. This weekend, the life of track legend Jesse Owens comes to the silver screen in the movie entitled Race. While the Oscars may eat up these kinds of movies, they sometimes get overcredited with being the best movie over the year. So once more I dive into my local theater to review the latest in cinematic productions. Let's get to it then.

When it comes to historical biographies such as Race, you look for a portrayal that elicits pride, passion, and other emotions that will inspire the audience. And once more Hollywood manages to bring all of that to bear with cinematic magic. Race is packed with well edited sequences that show the struggles Owens faced in his day as he trained to become the champion. The racial fervor of the times is brought in full force with extras intensely screaming with furious scowls painting their faces. Captains and financers of the Nazi regime are even more chilling, as they radiated the menacing energy we've come to know from history, adding suspense to the film. The emotion it brings will truly unnerve some people, and I'm sure some group will get offended by the portrayal of some Race in this movie (despite the inspirational theme in this movie).

But the negativity is only one side of the coin, and Race does an even better job with their more lighthearted moments. The training sessions are just the ice breaker to preaching the morals of hard work and determination. Once at the meets, things get turned up a notch with blaring music and beautiful shots raise your emotions to new heights. With each shot of the gun, each stride across the track, I felt roped into Owens world. And the finale… well lets just say the morals they preach would be grand for today's society could stand to learn from. Of course being based on actual events, this suspense can be missing if you know Owens accomplishments already, which is unfortunate in these types of movies.

Yet even the best editor can only do so much and we switch our focus to the actors now. Stephan James gets two thumbs up from this reviewer for his portrayal of Owens. He was able to capture the work ethic of Jesse, delivering powerful lines to motivate the audience, but not to cross the line into cheesiness and overdramatic presentation. In addition he adds a nice comedic edge that balances his character out into a new light. Jason Sudeikis also did his role justice playing Larry Snyder, the coach of our Olympian. Rarely do you see Sudeikis in a serious role, so it was refreshing to see him tackle this part. He has emotional fervor, bringing fire to the screen as he defends his morals and encourages his athletes to give it his all. Sure the screaming rants were a little over done, but all in all it worked for me. However, don't think his comedy has been drained away, Sudeikis still brings his comedic timing to the picnic and reigned his ridiculousness in for this film. These two have great chemistry and together really sold the story.

Yet with all the good I've mentioned, we should probably talk about some of the limitations to this film. The first is of course the predictability of this story. YES I know when it comes to historical biographies you have only so much to work with, but it still slightly takes away from the suspense and mystery. A second limitation was the lack of seeing his relationship with his teammates that could have led to some interesting substories and character building. Yes we did see some of this near the end, and it was probably more important to portray the pressure placed on his shoulders, but still I would have liked to see a little more. As such there were a few moments that could have been left out of the movie to either make the run time shorter or make room for some other plot lines. Outside of that though, it is quite a fun and entertaining film.

Overall, Race does it job to illustrate the past and inspire you to accomplish your dreams. The phenomenal editing and great casting truly preach the morals and lessons that history has to offer us. Yet it is a simplistic movie that lacks a lot of special effects are uniqueness to require a theater visit. As for the accuracy of this film, I can't say as I need to revisit his biography at some point. Historical fanatics are going to enjoy this the most, but those who appreciate good acting should check this one out. My one hope is that this movie doesn't add further fuel to the fire and cause another fight on social media or some other avenue.

My scores for this film are:

Biography/Drama/Sport: 7.5-.8.0 Movie Overall: 7.0

It's easy to get distracted by… well, life – even when you're doing something important (maybe, ESPECIALLY when you're doing something important). If you have a faithful "significant other" who is not around at the moment, you may be tempted to stray from "Miss Right" in favor of "Miss Right Now" (or "Mr.…" whichever the case may be). If you're determined to accomplish something big, you may be confronted with people who believe you will fail (and even want you to fail) – and openly express those feelings, whether out of pettiness, jealousy or even the color of your skin. If you're succeeding at something that draws a lot of attention, others will want to use you or your accomplishments to further their own personal, financial or political goals. These are just some of the distractions competing for the main character's attention in "Race" (PG-13, 2:14). Of course, I think we'd all agree that, in the end, what defines each of us is how we deal with our distractions. Jesse Owens learned that lesson well.

Stephan James plays the legendary runner from the ages of 20 to 23, the years that turned him from virtually unknown high school track star in Cleveland, Ohio to the man who defied Adolph Hitler's myth of "Aryan" racial superiority at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Jesse (actually, "J.C.", notwithstanding his elementary school teacher's misunderstanding his name) is in a long-term relationship with Ruth Solomon (Shanice Banton), with whom he has a little girl, but he has to say goodbye to both of them (and his large family) to begin his higher education and college track and field career at The Ohio State University in Columbus. It is there that he meets track coach Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis), the man tasked with turning Owens' raw talent into even greater accomplishments.

Owens first struggles with, then learns to overcome the distractions of sexual temptation, racial prejudice and the competing interests of some pretty important people who are determined to make Owens a pawn in their games of politics and perception. Early on we see Owens' incredible performance at a 1935 Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he put together what many people consider the most impressive 45 minutes in sports history. While at a meet in L.A., Owens' growing fame attracts the attention of the sexy, glamorous and wealthy Quincella, otherwise known as major distraction no. 1. Throughout his life, and even as a famous athlete, Owens has to endure the indignities of being forced to use "colored" entrances to buildings, being literally pushed aside by his white teammates and having racial epithets screamed at him while he's competing. (This is major distraction no. 2, but it also shows the illogic and hypocrisy of racism as his successes lead those who treat him horribly to cheer, embrace – and use him.) This brings us to major distraction no. 3 – the politics which swirled around Jesse Owens.

As Owens works hard to become a better runner – and a better man – the pattern of ethnic and racial discrimination in the Olympics' designated host country overshadows (and even threatens to derail) Owens' growing list of successes and his potential future accomplishments. The U.S. Olympic Committee (with Oscar winners Jeremy Irons and William Hurt representing conflicting positions) debate whether it's more important for the U.S. to boycott the Berlin games to make a statement about Germany's human rights abuses or for the American athletes (including the black and Jewish ones) to have the hard-won opportunity to compete – and maybe even to beat the Nazis at their own… games. Eventually, the debate literally arrives at Owens' doorstep as a representative of the relatively new NAACP puts significant pressure on Owens to refuse to attend the games as a way of striking a blow against discrimination. Owens now has the same debate within himself as the U.S. Olympic Committee had on behalf of all the athletes. It's no great mystery which decisions are made, but it's still interesting to see these stories play out on the national and international levels – and on a very, very personal level.

"Race" is solid entertainment and very inspirational, but not as impactful as it could have been. James makes Owens' struggle suitably personal, but his portrayal lacks the emotional depth that would have really driven the movie's messages home. SNL's Sudeikis is effective at playing it straight, but is a little shallow as Owens' coach-mentor-friend. The screenplay, by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse, does a great job at balancing Owens' story with the surrounding historical drama and spares us the full ugliness of the Nazis' treatment of their own people and Americans' treatment of Owens, but fails to go far enough into the story's most important issues. Stephen Hopkins' direction is even-handed, but antiseptic. "Race" is appropriate for families, but should have explored the parallels between the racial issues of the 1930s and those of the 2010s. While we do see a reflection of the ongoing argument over whether it's more important to take a stand than to overcome adversity through accomplishment, the theme isn't sufficiently played out. Overall, the film effectively tells the dual stories implied by its title, while it educates and inspires, and it has its thrilling moments, but it runs past issues that would have been better served by a deep dive (if you'll excuse the mixed sports metaphor). "B+"