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Rated: PG
Starring: Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, et al.
Director: Hugh Hudson Review
The come-from-behind winner of the 1981 Oscar for best picture, Chariots
of Fire either strikes you as either a cold exercise in mechanical
manipulation or as a tale of true determination and inspiration. The
heroes are an unlikely pair of young athletes who ran for Great Britain in
the 1924 Paris Olympics: devout Protestant Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson), a
divinity student whose running makes him feel closer to God, and Jewish
Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross), a highly competitive Cambridge student who
has to surmount the institutional hurdles of class prejudice and
anti-Semitism. There's delicious support from Ian Holm (as Abrahams's
coach) and John Gielgud and Lindsay Anderson as a couple of Cambridge
fogies. Vangelis's soaring synthesized score, which seemed to be
everywhere in the early 1980s, also won an Oscar. Chariots of Fire was the
debut film of British television commercial director Hugh Hudson (Greystoke)
and was produced by David Puttnam. --Jim Emerson
----------- So Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) impassionedly
exclaims to girlfriend Sybil (Alice Krige) after his unexpected loss to
Eric Liddell (Ian Charleston). But of course, that's the story of both
men, really, in this magnificent movie about Great Britain's 1924 Olympic
track team. And Abrahams and Liddell, both outside British establishment,
are each pursuing their own reasons for ultimate victory. Abrahams is a
Jewish man studying at Cambridge, who is angered by the anti-Semitism he
encounters even though he tries to fit into Anglican upper crust society.
He runs on the desire to show them all that he is the best, in spite of
prejudice. He cannot brook disappointment at all. Liddell is a Scottish
missionary, a staunch Presbyterian. Some of the reviewers have merely
identified him as Protestant, but to understand the opposition he
encounters, one must note that as a Scot and a Presbyterian, Liddell is no
more a part of the Anglican upper crust than Abrahams. He will have
serious decisions to make in Paris regarding the Olympics because of this.
Supporting cast is excellent. John Gielgud is wonderfully infuriating as
one of a pair of Cambridge dons who begrudge the Jewish Abrahams his
successes. Alice Krige, who plays Abrahams operetta star girlfriend,
should have gotten more to do after this movie besides the Borg Queen of
Star Trek. And Ian Holm is great as Abrahams' coach, helping him to become
one of the earliest modernly trained athletes. One of my most rewarding
moments as a college writing professor was the unexpected response of my
class to this movie, which they were viewing as the preparation for a
compare/contrast essay. Here were students from the Caribbean, from Ivory
Coast, from Bensonhurst, and yet they just loved it. Many were athletes
and others were fundamentalists, so they really identified with the
characters and their plights. Winner of the 1981 Academy Award for Best
Picture, "Chariots of Fire" is a sublime accomplishment--I can't recommend
it highly enough.
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