Race
Directed by: Stephen Hopkins
Written by: Joe Shrapnel & Anna Waterhouse
Starring: Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, Carice van Houten, Shanice Banton, William Hurt, Barnaby Metschurat, Jonathan Higgins, David Kross, Eli Goree, Shamier Anderson, Michèle Lonsdale Smith, Andrew Moodie, Glynn Turman
Biography/Drama/Sport - 134 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 16 Feb 2016
Written by: Joe Shrapnel & Anna Waterhouse
Starring: Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, Carice van Houten, Shanice Banton, William Hurt, Barnaby Metschurat, Jonathan Higgins, David Kross, Eli Goree, Shamier Anderson, Michèle Lonsdale Smith, Andrew Moodie, Glynn Turman
Biography/Drama/Sport - 134 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 16 Feb 2016
There is much more going on behind the scenes for Race to be limited as just a Jesse Owens biopic. Yes, the main thrust is the relationship between Jesse and his coach, but there are also major subplots involving a possible American boycott of the 1936 Berlin Olympics and even power dynamics between infamous Nazi Joseph Goebbels and his propaganda master, Leni Riefenstahl. One would assume all of these parts would add up to a resounding whole, but Race never overcomes its largest obstacle, boredom. Jesse Owens accomplished astounding feats, but there is only so much fascination watching a man sprint down the track can produce. Opening up Owens’s story inside a larger context is an effective choice, but Race refuses to tie it together.
Perhaps Race is following too closely on the heels of superior films close in genre. Selma, chronicling the pivotal 1965 Alabama march was as suspenseful as it was poignant. 42 showcased Jackie Robinson’s gigantic leap across baseball’s color divide. Get on Up with James Brown was just plain fun. It may not be completely fair to compare and contrast Race with its recent cousins, but that’s what audiences do. 42 is Race’s closest kin, and I felt I walked away with a much greater understanding of Mr. Robinson than I do of Mr. Owens.
Perhaps Race is following too closely on the heels of superior films close in genre. Selma, chronicling the pivotal 1965 Alabama march was as suspenseful as it was poignant. 42 showcased Jackie Robinson’s gigantic leap across baseball’s color divide. Get on Up with James Brown was just plain fun. It may not be completely fair to compare and contrast Race with its recent cousins, but that’s what audiences do. 42 is Race’s closest kin, and I felt I walked away with a much greater understanding of Mr. Robinson than I do of Mr. Owens.
Race is not a cradle to grave re-telling of Jesse’s life. It focuses on the most well known and celebrated years, 1934-36. As Jesse (Stephan James, Selma) runs through Depression-era Cleveland, Ohio, he makes a stark contrast to the desperate folk living out of lean-tos and shanties and queuing up for the bread line. Jesse is off to Ohio State University to train under former track star Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis, Horrible Bosses 2). While Jesse has part of his mind on his out of work father and on his girlfriend raising his baby daughter, Jesse’s main concentration is on competition.
Ohio State is where the film’s title takes on its double meaning. Columbus, Ohio is not the deep south but segregation and Jim Crow practices are enforced with as much fervor as anywhere else in the midwest. Co-writers Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse include so many scenes of Jesse’s second-class status, Race as a genre leaps away from mere sports film into history and sociology. Racial themes pop up again when Jesse is ready to travel to Berlin. Some more politically-minded activists would prefer Jesse boycott the games, not to protest against his treatment as a black man at home, but to show support for Germany’s oppressed minorities.
The threatened American boycott of the Olympic games gobbles up the other half of Race. Two titans of Olympic administration played by veteran Oscar winners William Hurt (The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them) and Jeremy Irons (Beautiful Creatures) philosophize about the morality of joining in games hosted by an odious regime looking to score propaganda points versus the idea where the quagmire of politics has no place in the sacred sports arena. Irons, playing Avery Brundage, bests the opposition and ensures full U.S. participation in Berlin. Well, almost full. An astoundingly corrupt and despicable act ensures our current generation, who had no idea who Brundage was, will now stake his name firmly in the trash heap of history.
Race’s pinnacle is not any particular 100m sprint or soaring broad jump. It is when Jesse emerges from the tunnel in Berlin’s Olympiastadion and hears the screams of 100,000 people as the camera spins circles around him as he attempts to absorb the spectacle. It is the film’s best shot and a credit to Director of Photography Peter Levy. Levy may imagine this is how infamous Nazi film director Leni Riefenstahl (Carice van Houten) would have filmed the stadium if only she had the technology and computer effects to pull it off. Riefenstahl is a persistent enigma in film history. She created cutting edge films and documentaries for the Nazis but just how much she believed in the ideology or how much she was forced to work we will never know. However, Race provides the most sympathetic portrayal of Riefenstahl yet filmed.
Even though it sounds like there is so much going on and Race is stuffed to the gills with training, racial tension, and Nazi skullduggery, the entire effort consistently drags. Director Stephen Hopkins, with credits included A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child and Predator 2, plays with the lighting to make Cleveland a bit more gray and washed out than sun-blinding Berlin. Yet, Hopkins cannot mold interest from themes audiences just absorbed in recent, superior films. Jesse Owens accomplished the impossible right under the nose of Adolf Hitler, but his best story on film is yet to be told.
Comment Box is loading comments...
