2016 Films: #14. Race

July 27th on flight from Chicago to San Francisco. The real life of Jesse Owens is one of hard work, resilience, perseverance, fortitude, triumph and tragedy. Yet somehow this film seems to overlook a lot of that stuff. Look, I understand that to make a comprehensive film about Mr. Owens, it would have a runtime of 180 minutes (2013's 42 had a similar problem but focused on Jackie Robinson's first year in the major leagues). The picture is directed by Stephen Hopkins (who has a lot decent to mediocre films to his credit) and centers around Owens' time at Ohio State and the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Stephan James does a very nice job in his portrayal of Owens. But I never really bought into Jason Sudeikis as Owens' gruff track coach at OSU. To me he was the guy from Horrible Bosses. 

Then there's the fact that the film also puts focus on Avery Brundage (Jeremy Irons) and how he was able to negotiate the with the Nazis to include Black and Jewish athletes in the games. The film makes a valiant effort to give the viewer an account of what lead up to one of the greatest Olympic achievements of the 1st half of the 20th Century (Jim Thorpe being the other) but it falls short. Is it about Owens or about the Berlin games themselves? By trying to hit on all facets of the of the period (the hideous racism faced by Owens; Owens having to deal with whether or not to compete in the games; Owens getting a new pair of track shoes prior to competition; Owens having to pay his own way through college because scholarships weren't offered to blacks; the USOC debating about whether to boycott and the whole Brundage thing), the entire film was shortchanged.

Even the film's postscripts in the end fail to do Owens justice. It tells you that after decades of being unable to find work, Ohio State gave Owens a job as a janitor. A janitor. Actually it was much worse than that. Read about it. I did. This is the one thing I give the film credit for; it forced me to find out what really happened to Owens after the Olympics. It was terrible. The film received a 61% rating on Rotten Tomatoes which is mediocre. Not bad but not that good either. The film just doesn't do justice to the life of Jesse Owens. It should have been better.