I guess the biggest surprise with Race is that this story of how Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics in 1936 hasn’t been made into a film before. Other than that, enjoyable as much of it is, it is a film that takes a fairly predictable path. I think I audibly sighed near the start when the beleaguered coach opened his desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of whiskey!
With the outcome known, it struggles at times to raise itself above a level of a TV movie. Scenes of Owens’ home life, his dalliances with a girl he meets in Los Angeles only serve to slow down the story and give it a sluggish feel at times. However, there is enough in Race to make it a worthwhile watch.
The performances of Stephan James as Owens and especially Jason Sudeikis – an actor that I’d been waiting for a while to get such a good part – as his coach Larry Snyder are excellent. The political machinations leading up to the games were fascinating. The scenes of the US Olympic Committee debating whether to attend the Olympics, and their representatives’ (a scowling Jeremy Irons) reconnaissance trip to Berlin were the best things in the movie.
There were some parts of the story that I was unaware of such as Owen’s breaking three world records in 45 minutes at a build-up event whilst injured; his friendship with German broad jump rival Carl Long; and the treatment of Jewish athletes by the US officials: so I was interested to see all of those.
Less successful are the attempts to show the film director Leni Riefenstahl in a good light. It felt like one film maker trying to raise the reputation of another and her part was needlessly beefed up as a result. Also, the winning of the medals and Owens’ treatment when he returned home are too well-known to give the last part of the film the dramatic finish it needed.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10