Race
Director
Stephen Hopkins
Cast
Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis
In what I thought was going to be another paint by numbers bio drama, in fact turned out to be an incredibly affecting, real life superhero story. Stephan James portrays Jesse Owens, a young man starting his first year of college at Ohio State in 1935. He’s already proven that he’s one of the fastest runners in track and field and wants the chance to train with the supposedly best coach around, Larry Snyder as portrayed by Jason Sudeikis.
The film takes a great approach in opening up this story so it’s not just a history lesson, or a Black history lesson, but an American history lesson. Jesse Owens embraces his destiny to be the fastest man alive, practically setting new records every time he takes the track. He’s not perfect, and some of the obstacles and temptations he comes across would be challenging for any young man.
The movie has multiple engaging subplots that shows this film isn’t just about a young, fast runner. William Hurt and Jeremy Irons play members of the American Olympic Association, who must weigh in the consequences of the U.S. actually going to, and supporting Germany while Hitler is there in charge. Irons is particularly good here, throwing in a thick Southern accent as he negotiates for ALL the American athletes to be allowed in the Berlin Olympics. An actress that I adore, Carice van Houten also makes a nice appearance as a filmmaker who was hired by Hitler to document these Olympics Games.
“With great power, comes great responsibility”…it’s true in comic book heroes and it holds really true here of Jesse Owens, American superhero. He’s a real life Flash, being the fastest man alive, and a real life Captain America, going to Germany in the hopes of putting Hitler in his place. One of things that really impressed me was the large scope of this story. It could have been TV movie of the week docudrama, but Stephen Hopkins (who I’ve loved since Predator 2 and Lost in Space) directs this story with the epic vision that it deserves.
This is an absolutely thrilling sports movie, and an important, history lesson. Go see it.
