So after writing about what might be my favorite film from
1981, I now will discuss the picture that was given the Best Picture Oscar honors
for that year: “Chariots of Fire”. I can honestly say that while it’s a fine movie,
it in no way excels “Raiders of the Lost Ark” or the more acceptable (in Oscar standards)
fellow Academy Award nominee “Reds” in terms of presentation or execution.
“Chariots of Fire” is, in simplicity, a sports movie. What
makes it slightly different is that its focus is on the competitors rather than
the actual competitions. The sport is running and the distinction between the
two main protagonists is their individual religious faiths. It is their
background and beliefs that serves as the main obstacles in the plot, and that’s
where the problems with the film start to arise. One athlete, Harold Abrahams, is
of Jewish descent, and is always trying to prove himself despite his heritage.
The opposition he has to overcome, however, is very subtle not overtly
confrontational. The worse he faces is censure from the heads of Cambridge University
(one played by a criminally underused John Gielguld). Their criticism is of
Abrahams use of professional trainer Sam Mussabini (played wonderfully by Ian Holm)
which is couched as an excuse to show disapproval for Mussabini’s ethnicity. These
events are not nearly forceful enough to derail Abrahams and don’t serve as strong
complications to overcome. In fact, the despair he feels upon his first defeat
would have been more interesting to delve into but the plot spreads itself too
thinly between Abrahams' self-worth and racial opposition while it follows his
character arc.
Eric Lidell is the other runner, who is a devout Scottish Christian.
The hurdles (no pun intended) he has to face are less complex than Abrahams.
After missing a church meeting because of his running, he is looked at disapprovingly by his wife, but
that becomes easily dismissed by the line said by Lidell: “I believe God made
me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.”
The other moment that stands in his way is during the Olympics. Lidell has a race
scheduled on a Sunday. Lidell, being a devout Christian, refuses to run on the
Sabbath. He faces pressure from Olympic officials and even the Prince of Wales
(all very subtly of course) to run, but this is also sidestepped very simply and
quickly by another runner and friend who trades his place at another race time
and offers it to Lidell. For me, it was too quick and easy a resolution.
Although the film suffers from weak plot elements and some
gut wrenchingly awful scenes (the first racing defeat by Abrahams is horribly
edited and scored), the movie has some strong points mostly centered on the
acting. Ben Cross and Ian Charleston as Abrahams and Lidell give very solid performances
as athletes who strongly believe in their pursuit of running as a form of
expression. And Ian Holm as Mussabini steals every scene he is in. My favorite moment from the film is
practically a silent one involving Mussabini in a rented room just outside the
Olympic events stadium because he is not allowed inside because of mitigating
reasons. Knowing the time, Abrahams’ event is supposed to start, he can only
hear the event as it proceeds. Afterward, when he hears the British national
anthem playing signaling that Abrahams has won the race, he wanders around the
room for a moment in repressed excitement to finally belting out a whoop of expressed
satisfaction. Holm definitely deserved the Best Supporting actor nomination for
this role.
The one last criticism I’ll levy at this film is the
theatrical score composed by Vangelis. Outside of the opening theme and a few
sparse moments in the film, the music felt mismatched to the sportsmanship-like
presence of the movie. The horrible discordant musical cue at the aforementioned
defeat of Abrahmas made me wince upon hearing it. Maybe this was supposed to make
me feel the pain that Abrahams was going through at his defeat, but all I could
think of was how badly the music sounded. Of course, the Academy in its
continuing infinitesimal wisdom gave the Best Score Oscar to Vangelis for this
movie robbing John Williams of what might be his finest musical score in “Raiders
of The Lost Ark”.
After all this critique, you might think that I didn’t like “Chariots
of Fire”. In fact I enjoyed the film but mostly because of the actors’ performances
rather than the plot. Perhaps because it was based on actual historical events gave
it more gravitas when it was initially released. However the content of the
film has a very soft punch to it and really glosses over the difficulties the protagonists
may have had. After watching the film, I was impressed with its focus on
following the story of these two athletes rather than the sporting competitions,
but the events depicted were never really impactful enough to leave an
indelible impression.
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