Cinema Tuesdays Review

Despite the sometime boycotts, persistent doping scandals, and occasional nationalistic behavior (mostly on the part of television sports commentators) associated with the Olympic games, I always find them inspiring. To see so many nations of the world together in one place, not for political purposes, but for fun and competition, is still a rare occasion, and one that is justly celebrated. Maybe this year will be the one the Olympics inspire me to increase my workout frequency, to take up a new sport, or push a little harder. But for now, I sat down with a cold Gatorade to watch three Olympic-themed movies before the games began!

Since the Olympics are such a high profile, worldwide, event, it seems unfortunately inevitable today that we fear a terrorist attack at the games. In Athens this year, there are many more security guards than there are athletes. But in 1972, the organizers of the Munich games hoped that a free and open Olympic complex would help erase memories of the 1936 Olympics, which were overshadowed by the Nazi presence. The easy-to-spot security guards (wearing light blue blazers) did not even carry weapons. And so the Oscar-winning documentary "One Day in September" makes the ironic case that in 1972, German officials' inefficiency ultimately led to the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes at the hands of a terrorist group hoping to raise awareness for the Palestinian cause.

Separating this documentary on the tragedy from others is the participation of Jamal Al Gashey, the sole surviving member of the terrorist group that raided the Olympic Village on September 5, 1972. Al Gashey, filmed in shadow to conceal his features, is quite frank in detailing the events of that day, even admitting he’s still proud of what he did. He describes first-hand how some late-night revelers helped him and his fellow conspirators over the walls of the complex without a question as to who they were, and how they stormed the Israeli team’s rooms.

A noon deadline to meet the terrorists' demands comes and goes. Meanwhile, even after it is learned two of the Israeli hostages are dead, competition continues. Only late in the afternoon that day are the games halted. Other attempts to either negotiate with the terrorists or storm the complex end in failure, and ultimately, the terrorists arrange for transport away from the village. That too ultimately ends in bloody failure for some German sharpshooters, most of the terrorists, and all of the Israeli athletes taken hostage.

"One Day in September" is a fascinating film, though identifying all of the speakers with a title card on screen could have further enhanced it. Sometimes I wondered who was speaking, and what they had to do with the situation. And because the story is told so well, and even advertised on the DVD box as a "gripping thriller," it leaves you with conflicting emotions. You realize that you’ve just been "entertained" by a tragic, true story. One woman, a friend or relative of one of the murdered athletes, puts it best when she remembers seeing the terrorists and athletes transported away from the Olympic village: "Our friends were led handcuffed from the bus to the helicopter. The terrorists stood there with rifles. They looked as if they felt like heroes dominating the world. All around, flashbulbs were going off. I felt bitter. It’s not a movie. It’s our people we’re talking about… and they were making a show out of it."

Few movies capture the strength and determination of track and field competitors as well as "Personal Best," screenwriter and director Robert Towne's first feature, from 1982. It’s filled with slow-motion photography of runners, high jumpers, pole vaulters and shot put throwers. There is also some great close-up photography of the runners’ feet, and legs, and arms. And the soundtrack during these sequences is often made up of heightened human sounds, from heavy breathing to heartbeats. "Personal Best" is also notable as one of the first films ever to openly depict a lesbian relationship.

The film stars Mariel Hemingway as a naïve young runner who befriends and falls in love with a more experienced athlete, Patrice Donnelly. Both are vying for spots on the 1980 Olympic pentathlon team, a situation we know from history to be doomed, since the United States boycotted the 1980 Moscow games. Nevertheless, the dream of the Olympics seems to take a backseat to the drive to better one’s game in this film. The two women's relationship deepens, and Hemingway's skills improve, but their coach, played with a seeming gruff indifference by Scott Glenn, knows that the competition may eventually drive the two apart.

Hemingway and Donnelly’s relationship is dealt with matter-of-factly. "Personal Best" does not wear its sexual politics on its sleeve. And when one of the two women eventually loses interest in the relationship, her subsequent actions make sense. "Personal Best" is not yet available on DVD, but deserves to be released in the digital format, as both a great sports film, and a landmark in the history of cinema.

"Miracle" was a sleeper hit earlier this year. It's a story that is oft told, of how a group of rag-tag college kids came to beat the Soviet hockey team at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. No doubt you've seen a documentary about the "greatest moment in sports history" on ESPN at one time or another (and one of the extras on this two-disc DVD set is a roundtable discussion hosted by ESPN's Linda Cohn). And so, "Miracle" has to do the impossible: take a familiar story and make it exciting again. Through the film's impressive camerawork on the ice, its multi-layered soundtrack, and star Kurt Russell's performance, "Miracle" pulls it off.

Russell plays Olympic coach Herb Brooks, who hand picked his team, studied the Russians and the Eastern Europeans strategies, and taught his guys how to play their game. As Brooks, Russell delivers an understated performance, as far as movie coaches go. He's tough, but he doesn't yell and scream so much. Instead of thrusting greatness upon the players, teaching them how to be winners, he pulls their inherent skills out of them.

The players, as we learn, were picked not because they were superstars on campus, but because Brooks saw something in each one that would be beneficial for what he was trying to do - beat the Soviets at their own game. "Miracle" does well by casting actual high school and college-age hockey players as the 1980 Olympic team. The authenticity of the film is greatly enhanced by not having to cut "insert shots" of actors on the ice into the action. And these young, fresh-faced players are pretty good at acting, too, probably owing to the fact that many of them are in the same place in their lives the original players were when they won their medals in Lake Placid.

"Miracle" also makes an attempt to place the story in the context of history, with an opening montage of memorable moments from the 1970s, and a scene at a long gas line, and Patricia Clarkson has a mostly throwaway role as Brooks' wife, but this is the story of Herb Brooks and the Miracle on Ice team, and it is told well.

Growing up in Texas, I've never been a hockey enthusiast, but the scenes on the ice in "Miracle" are exciting to watch. Director Gavin O'Connor uses the widescreen frame to great advantage, getting us right down on the rink, sometimes skating along just below a player's knees. And the sounds of the game are accurately and impressively captured by the use of microphones not only on the players, but also on their skates! A short featurette on the DVD reveals even more on how the sound of "Miracle" was done, from pre-production to final mix.

Other features on the DVD set include an audio commentary with the stars and filmmakers, a documentary about the making of the film, and most interestingly, a 20-plus minute long videotaped pre-production session with the real Herb Brooks, Kurt Russell, and the filmmakers, wherein Brooks talks about his coaching philosophies, and his approach to hockey.

Brooks died shortly after the production of "Miracle," and he never got to see the finished film. That's a shame, because the underdog success of "Miracle" in the theaters was a sweet tribute to the real life coach and team that inspired this film.

8/18/04

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