Chariots Of Fire (1981) * * * *

Directed by: Hugh Hudson

Starring: Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Ian Holm


It's rare that I've seen a sports film involving the participants' need to win and how the idea of winning and losing defines one's self. Chariots Of Fire sets itself apart from other sports movies because it isn't just about who wins the big race at the end.   How does it feel to train for years only to lose by tenths of a second?   Jerry Seinfeld once joked about how difficult it must be to lose a race by an amount so small that it's quicker than the snap of your fingers.   But yet, Olympic runners like Harold Abrahams (Cross) and Eric Liddell, who are the primary focus of Chariots Of Fire, knew that all too well. 

Aside from cameos by American actors Dennis Christopher and Brad Davis, who were up and coming stars in 1981, Chariots Of Fire boasts a primarily English cast and is very much pro-British, but its themes are very likely universal for athletes and non-athletes alike.   Hell, many people's happiness is affected when their favorite sports team wins or loses, but little thought is given to the happiness of the athletes who actually play the games.   In the cases of Abrahams and Liddell, each runs because they love to run but also as an instrument.    For Abrahams, who is Jewish, running is a way to get the last laugh on an anti-Semitic system at Cambridge where he attends college.   The powers that be there don't necessarily beat him down with fists and slurs, but he is clearly an outsider to a mostly Christian group of students and faculty.

Liddell is a Scottish missionary who runs as an instrument of God. He says to his wife, who fails to understand his obsession, "When I run, I feel His pleasure." But he is also so steadfast in his religious beliefs that he refuses to run an Olympic race that is held on a Sunday, even in the face of mounting pressures by the Prince Of Wales and the Olympic committee.

The film, set against the backdrop of the 1924 Paris Olympics, is one of quiet power.  The Oscar-winning score by Vangelis doesn't bash you over the head underscoring each moment of triumph and despair.  For Abrahams, despair comes early when he races against Liddell in a college meet and is blown away.  Seeing Abrahams sitting quietly yet angrily afterward is a microcosm of the film's theme: Winning isn't just everything, it defines everything.  At that point, he meets up with Sam Mussabini (Holm-in an Oscar-nominated performance) who says he can train Abrahams to gain two full yards in his strides. You would think a Rocky-like training montage will soon follow, but what you really see are two men trying to exorcise demons of past failures and losses. Mussabini is unable to attend the final race in person due to being banned from the Olympic stadium, but how he handles the news of the race's outcome is a masterstroke in every way. Another masterful scene in the film is the one before racetime in which Abrahams reveals that if he wins the race, he will have conquered all that he could by running and the future beyond that frightened him. Without one more mountain to climb, how will he be able to fight the system as he has for many years? He says, "I have known the fear of losing, but I now know the fear of winning."

Chariots Of Fire won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1981, which is quite a feat considering its competition was Reds, On Golden Pond, Atlantic City, and Raiders Of Lost Ark, four great films in their own right. But yet, Chariots Of Fire is a treasure. It goes beyond the obvious conflicts caused within athletic competition and focuses on how the competition stirs the souls of its participants.