Race - Il colore della vittoria

Maybe not as prominently remembered as he once was, Jesse Owens, was one of those men in history who was able to overcome the many barriers in his life to exemplify greatness. Not only as an athlete, but as a human being.

"RACE" is the story of Jesse Owens(Stephan James) from 1933 through 1936. James Cleveland Owens was born in Alabama and at age 9 moved with his family to Cleveland, Ohio. It was in Cleveland where one of his teachers, unable to understand his thick southern accent, thought he was saying his name was Jesse when in fact he had been saying JC. This mistake led to JC being known as Jesse for the rest of his life.

A prominent high school track athlete, Jesse entered The Ohio State University in 1933 and began his NCAA track career under the tutelage of legendary track coach Larry Snyder(Jason Sudeikis). Snyder recognized greatness in Jesse the first time he watched him run and let Jesse know that he would be able to compete and win in the 1936 Olympic Games.

The movie moves from Jesse's life and troubles to Nazi Germany and back again. The story of The Amateur Athletic Union(AAU) and the American Olympic Committee(AOC), struggling with the decision to attend or boycott the games, runs parallel to Jesse's trials, tribulations and his ultimate success.

When the AAU and AOC make the decision to attend the games, the NAACP asks Jesse to refuse to enter. Due to the atrocities being committed against the Jewish population in Germany and the open hatred the Nazis expressed toward other races as well, the NAACP felt Jesse's refusal to attend the games would make a strong statement. The decision to attend the games by Owens turned out to be a much more powerful statement than could ever have been imagined. As the scene unfolded and the representative of the NAACP told Jesse what a strong statement his boycott would make, I was hoping the writer's would have had Jesse respond by saying, "It will be much more meaningful for me to attend the games and come home with the Gold" – or something along that line.

Jesse Owens, to me, has always been one of the larger than life individuals that only come along every so often. The film not only celebrates Jesse Owens' accomplishments, it also emphasizes the wrongs to which people of color had to endure in the United States. Even at a dinner held in Mr. Owens' honor, Jesse and his wife were asked to enter the hotel through the service entrance. The filmmaker's parallel stories of Jesse and Nazi Germany, as they prepare for the games, brings to the forefront the hypocrisy of our American Ideals and what was really happening to many of our citizens. "RACE" is a title that fits well because it not only speaks to Jesse's prominence on the track, but to the relationship between the citizens of this planet.

The story is a worthwhile one. Historical figures like Jesse Owens need to be kept in our memory. However, as great as Jesse Owens was, this was not a great film. At 134 minutes, I felt it was a tad too long. I also felt it dragged somewhat at various times. Although the parallel story of what was happening in Europe at this time in our history is important, I feel to much time was spent on that story and not enough on Mr. Owens.

I recommend seeing this film although I feel the matinée price would be the best option.

RACE is a "by-the-numbers" bio-pic of Jesse Owens and his 4 Gold Medals won at the 1936 Olympics in the heart of Nazi Germany. A perfectly agreeable - and instantly forgettable - movie that skims the surface, but never really delves into, the events that transpired.

Director Stephen Hopkins has mainly worked in television and it shows as this film was nice, hitting on some controversial topics of race and politics, but never really hitting them too hard. As soon as the movie hits on a topic, it moves on to some sort of "feel good" moment, mostly of Owens winning a race.

While the stakes in the world were high at the time, the stakes in this movie never really seemed high. Partly, I blame the director, but there should also be fault found in the two lead performances of Stephan James (as Jesse) and Jason Sudekis as his coach, Larry Snyder. They both do some good "TV" acting, in that they hit a note of contemplation, or angst or sadness right before they jump to another scene and the previous scenes emotions were completely forgotten.

A case in point was the championships where Owens hurts his back right before competing. There's a confrontation scene between Owens and Snyder where the coach declares "I'm going to scratch you" from this very big race. Owens glares and says "no way" and then competes and sets all types of records and the injury was never spoken of, or referred to, or even was a factor in the race.

All in all a "fine" motion picture, one that I will forget that I saw when I look back at the films that I viewed in 2016.

6 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank (of Marquis

Racial discrimination both at home and in Germany are in the forefront of this movie so the races become a battle of good vs evil. The victories are that much more moving because of that. Lots of pointed references to how discrimination was in the U.S. before and after the Olympics.

The supporting cast are good. Jeremy Irons is effective as the questionable Avery Brundage who does some good by pushing for participation over boycott but also possibly being bought by the Germans. Carice Van Houten plays the infamous Leni. Strangely, instead of being shown as a Nazi propogandist, she is shown as a hero here pushing for including Jesse in her film. The actor who plays Goebbels is totally wrong for him. Google the real one. Stephan James as Jesse Owens doesn't overact and keeps his performance dignified. Jason Sudekis is good in a non comedic role as the coach.

Effecive use of effects to recreate the stadium and crowds.

A fascinating and well made movie

You don't want to throw around the word epic and overuse it, but when you make a movie about the Olympics, it's usually a movie about one athlete taking on the world (sport depending). For Jesse Owens this concept is met with more difficulty. A black man barely welcomed in his own backyard gets the chance to run in the greatest competition of all time, in another country that does not accept him as well, and he does it and helps change the face of the world forever.

Stephen James did a fantastic job playing Jesse Owens. He gave a lot a heart to it, which was important. It's a great reflection of who Owens was.

Becoming a huge fan of the work of Jason Sudeikis who plays Jesse's Coach, Larry Snyder. The well known funny man takes the same position as Sylvester Stallone did in Creed with this dramatic supporting role, and it was a decent turn to see him do something a little different.

Also want to give credit to Jeremy Irons who plays Avery Brundage of the U.S Olympic committee. Race mostly focus on the life of Owens up to the 1936 games, but also has a great side story about America dealing with the Nazi Regime with the Olympics being held in their hometown. Irons is the center of this sub plot and does a good job making it interesting.

For what it is, I'm also fairly impressed with the CGI being used to built the 1930s in this movie. Race is a big movie and the visual effects help make it look better. I wish the budget was bigger so that the effects could be better, but it's very impressive for a 5 million dollar film.

The only odd thing that was distracting is that it looks like they used visual effects to replace stunt men in the movie. Instead of getting a stunt double who looked fast enough to play Owens, they have parts in Race that just look like the took footage of Stephen James and speed it up to make his running faster. Not sure about this method, and others were they used digital images for high jumps, or a least that's what it looks like.

But overall, Race impressed me. It's a good tear jerker that puts a a smile on your face. Truly an epic movie about overcoming the biggest obstacles to be the very best.

Review: I really enjoyed this Jesse Owens biopic, which shows how he won his many Gold medals at the 1936 Olympics, under heavy racial tension from the Germans but I was hoping to see more about the man himself, who was truly an amazing athlete. Jesse Owens is played by Stephan James, who leaves the streets of Cleveland Ohio, and goes Ohio State to pursue his dreams to become a track and field star, with his close friend Dave Albritton (Eli Goree). Meanwhile Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis) is having problems as the coach at Ohio State, because he hasn't had an national win since he has arrived, so his job is on the line and he isn't impressed with the daily candidates, who lead to nothing. After watching Owens train, and being very impressed with his times, he decides to take Owen under his wing and he shows him the ropes of becoming a star. Behind the scenes, Avery Brundage (Jeremy Irons) is fighting to allow Black and Jewish competitors at the Olympics but with the racist political views from Hitler and his assistants, it takes some time for Avery to convince the Germans that it would make a better games if they are allowed to compete. Anyway, once the games eventually get going, Jesse Owens smashes loads of records and wins numerous gold medals for his country. Its a truly great achievement for a black man, in that day and age, and the relationship between Owens and Snyder was quite emotional. I would have liked to have seen some more depth to the characters but apart from that, it's an entertaining movie which portrays a time in sports, which changed the game forever. Enjoyable!

Round-Up: Personally, I think that this movie needed a top director to bring the intense emotion across to the big screen but Jamaican born Stephen Hopkins done a decent job. His previous titles include A Nightmare on Elm Street 5, Predator 2, which wasn't close to the first movie, Judgement Night, Blown Away, The Ghost in the Darkness, Lost In Space, Tube Tales, Under Suspicion, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and The Reaping in 2007, starring Hilary Swank. He has also worked on numerous TV series like, 24, House of Lies, Californication, Shameless and the Unusuals, so he has quite a decent portfolio to date. With so much information available about Jesse Owens achievements, this movie seemed a bit safe, but with that aside, it's great that he brought this amazing story to light. I would have liked to have seen a top actor play the main role, like Will Smith did with Ali but that's not to say that Stephan James didn't do a good job. Although this film made a decent profit, it would be good to see a BIG budget version of Jesse Owens life, because it's truly an inspiring story that a lot of people can learn from.

Budget: $5million Worldwide Gross: $25million

I recommend this movie to people who are into their biography/history/dramas, starring Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Eli Goree, Jeremy Irons, William Hurt, Carice van Houten, David Kross, Shanice Banton, Tim McInnerny and Glynn Turman. 5/10