Evan D. As a project this year we are taking a trip through time to revisit all of the Best Picture winners in history, Wings to Anora. Chariots of Fire is the fifty-fourth film in that series, to see all the other Best Picture reviews, click here. Sport has long been a favorite fascination of filmmakers. Athletic conquest and the pitting of man against man in a battle for excellence is inherently cinematic. Directors across time have used the medium to extoll the virtues of their homelands and sporting heroes to rousing effect. Never before nor since has athletic contest been put to screen in such a dull and deeply British way as it was in Hugh Hudson’s Chariots of Fire.
Hudson’s drama follows two runners that competed for the 1924 British Olympic team. Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) is a young Jewish student at Cambridge University facing frequent discrimination. He’s also a ferocious runner and competitor who uses his talent to combat the anti-semitism he endures day to day. By contrast, Eric Liddel (Ian Charleson) is a sporting star already in Scotland, renowned for his exploits on the rugby field. A devout Christian, he is convinced to apply his talents to the track as a way of honoring God. The two young men rise through the ranks of the sport and ultimately find themselves as teammates on the British Olympic squad. For as quick as its central runners are, Chariots of Fire moves at a decidedly deliberate pace. Although framed as amiable rivals, the film only pits its two leads against one another in a head to head race a single time. And even that race happens well before the big Olympic finale! What this practically means is scene after scene of these two men running by themselves or talking to loved ones about what they can prove by being truly great, over and over. Really, the main bit of plot revolves around Liddel refusing to run a qualifying heat on a Sunday as he sees it as an affront to God. It echos the stand that Thomas More takes in A Man for All Seasons, intentionally according to producer David Puttnam. Unfortunately Liddel’s stand carries dramatic stakes so much lower than More’s that it feels bizarre of the film to make so much of it. Little stands out here as especially spectacular. Chariots of Fire is competent enough in its cinematography, editing and performance with an anachronistic score that is at least interesting. Mostly it’s just a slog, like running through mud. Unfortunately there is no medal waiting on the other side of the finish line for those who choose to watch. 4/10
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