Race
Race is a 2016 movie based on the life of Jessie Owens, four time Olympic Goal Medal winner, directed by Stephen Hawkins.
The movie takes a great story and plays it very straight. It stays in it's lane, and doesn't do much extra.
The movie tells the story of Jessie Owens from when he entered college through the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. The movie is really three sections, Owens getting onto the track team at Ohio State, the Olympic Committee debate over going to the 1936 Olympics, and the events of the 1936 Olympics.
Jessie Owens is wonderful character, and one of the great figures in American history.
Other Interesting Historical Figures
Of course the movie is about Jessie Ownes, but the story is supported by characters who were just as interesting as Jessie Owens.
Jason Sudeikis, of SNL fame, turns in the most surprising performance. He plays Owens track coach at Ohio State, Larry Snyder. Sudeikis has skill as a serious actor. Snyder himself has an Olympic background, or almost Olympic background, he was set to be a part of the 1924 Olympics, but didn’t travel with the team.
Jeremy Irons plays Avery Brundage, a member of the US Olympic Committee who fought to make sure the US participated in the Olympics. Brundage then took it to the Nazi party to tone down their rhetoric in order for the US to particpate in the Olmpics. But Brundage was almost brought down because of a building business deal he made with the Nazi party. Brundage would survive the scandal and be the president goff the Olympic committee, and the only American to ever earn that title, until his death in 1975.
Joseph Goebbels is of course the famous Nazi Minister of Propganda. His scenes are some of the most compelling in the movie. Goebbels is played with a great intensity and focus by Baranby Metschurat.
Leni Riefenstal, played by Carice van Houten, is the filmmaker that record the 1936 Olympics for the Grobbels, and the Nazi party. She defied Groebbles, and kept filming when it became apparent that Owens was going to beat their best runner. Riefenstal kept filming inspite of the fact that the Olympics were not going the way Hitler wanted them to go. She was a very talented actress, dancer, and filmmaker, an interesting character herself.
Owens is played by Stephan James. He does a good job playing the character. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of range for James to explore in Owens. Owens does get caught with another woman, and his fiance breaks off the relationship, and he is asked to not participate in the Olympics by the NAACP. Those scenes give James something to work with. And in the final third of the movie, Owen challenges the Olympic coaches to allow Snyder to be his coach. That scene was probably the most enjoyable for James to act.
Overall the movie is solid. It doesn’t take any real risks with the story, I wish it had a little, but in the end it really doesn’t need to. The Jesse Owens story is interesting in itself.
Blu-Ray Details
(Screen grab courtesy of Blu-Ray.com)
I got this from Netflix whereyou get the Rental version, thus no extras. (I really don't like rental versions, but whatever...)
But on the full version there is less than 20 minutes of featturettes. So you're not missing much here.
Video
MPEG-4 AVC at 1080P
Audio
English DTS-HD Master 5.1
