Glorious
This fine film documenting some of the events at Nagano, Japan during the 1998 Winter Olympics is essentially as celebratory as the Olympic Games themselves. It takes full advantage of the large-format medium of IMAX to capture things such as what the ski jump looks like from above, and the astonishing movements possible for a skilled snowboarder.
But the movie's real strength is that it doesn't just document Olympic success stories. It shows quite a few tumbles in the snow and falls on the ice. The best story may be that of the first Kenyan to participate in the Winter Olympics, a marathon runner who learned cross-country skiing from the Norwegian team only shortly before competing in the Olympics. He finished last, but he didn't quit. (Five other competitors did.) And he said he would go home as they all would: a champion.
Thus, the most powerful thing captured in this movie is something you never see at all: the glory of the human spirit.
But the movie's real strength is that it doesn't just document Olympic success stories. It shows quite a few tumbles in the snow and falls on the ice. The best story may be that of the first Kenyan to participate in the Winter Olympics, a marathon runner who learned cross-country skiing from the Norwegian team only shortly before competing in the Olympics. He finished last, but he didn't quit. (Five other competitors did.) And he said he would go home as they all would: a champion.
Thus, the most powerful thing captured in this movie is something you never see at all: the glory of the human spirit.
- reuben-8
- Mar 13, 1999