Faith That Can Move Mountains ...

Rating: 10/10 (1 August 2011)

"The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle, the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well." Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937)
I expected the 1981 Best Picture, Hugh Hudson's "Chariots of Fire", to be a glorious illustration of this quotation from the father of Modern Olympics. How wrong I was. On the contrary, "Chariots of Fire" is the flamboyant depiction of the heart-burning thirst for victory and self-achievement through a thought-provoking, never cynical and always sincere, Oscar-winning script.
The film opens with the eulogy of one of the greatest British athletes, Harold Abrahams, and then the image directly fades to the movie's most emblematic scene and probably one of the most iconic opening sequences from any film, the slow-motion beach running. This part is driven by Vangelis' inspirational score that perfectly matches the film's spirit, like "Midnight Express" or "High Noon"'s theme. Maybe I speak for myself, but when I watched the film for the first time, I thought "Oh, so that's where this music comes from!" Rarely had the iconic status of a film preceded its knowledge, and "Chariots of Fire" is one of the few, that features recognizable elements even before being watched.
Ironically, the opening scene can be as misleading as Coubertin's line, conveying the inspirational aspect of sports as a necessary team-spirit builder while in fact, the runners are less a team than a group of individuals who run for distinct reasons. Looking at them gives some early hints about their personal conceptions regarding sport. Harold Abrahams is concentrated, he doesn't smile, totally absorbed by a dream of victory which in his eyes, looks like a matter of life and death. Eric Liddel is like carried by the wind, in a sort of symbiosis with an invisible power. And Andrew Lindsay has a touching childish smile, wiping sand from his mouth, exuding a genuine positivity that three letters can eloquently summarize : fun.
Sport in "Chariots of Fire" is only the medium used to express something much deeper made palpable by the script. We all have different reasons to enjoy or to be passionate and the point is not whether these reasons are good or not, but if we can remain faithful to them. What could have been –and I don't mean that in a pejorative way– a "Rocky" in a stadium, became a formidable lesson of integrity, through the two pillar characters Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddel, two prodigious, two different athletes, but whose extraordinary attachment to personal values and principles allowed them to fulfill their dreams. And this is the 'something more' I was evoking. "Chariots of Fire" is not about going the distance, about winning, but about integrity.
Harold Abrahams is a young Cambridge student whose Jewish ethnicity cemented a strong feeling of being an outsider, despite his brilliant education and undeniable patriotism. He seems to be the only one to really take it personally but the point is not to judge if Harold is right or wrong to feel that way, but to realize how this built his ferocious ambition to win, even leading him to hire a professional coach when the philosophy of the Olympic Games idealized the amateur sportsmanship. Harold runs less for winning than against the insupportable idea of losing, because his ethnicity can't allow him to be ordinary. His passion is the euphemism for an ego-driven ambition, destined to honor his heritage. Coubertin's spirit is one thing but don't we most often remember the name of the winner, don't we say : may the best win?
"God made me for a purpose. But he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure." This is from Eric Liddel, the son of Scottish missionaries established in China, a man who abandoned rugby for religion, until put in recurrent situations that proved him how running was part of his destiny. According to Liddel, the best way to honor God, is to honor His gift. The movie could be taken as a pro-religious film, which is not, if you listen carefully (another credit to the Oscar winning script), this declaration to his sister echoes Cambridge's Master of Trinity opening speech inviting the young students to find their own paths and never let people influence them. This is what having principles is about, an idea illustrated by the issue concerning Eric's refusal to run during the Sabbath Day. It's good to have beliefs that inspire a passion, as long as the passion doesn't encourage you to deny these beliefs. Integrity is the ultimate victory, and compromising is the terrible admittance of defeat.
Whether it's for God, for ego or for fun, the movie is an extraordinary introspection into these abstractions that inspire the best from us, it's not about medals, about speeches, but it's the whole feeling of having accomplished whatever we feel born for. The most poignant moment of the film is when Harold's coach, Ian Holm as the scene-stealer Mussabini, pierces the top of his hat while hearing 'God Save the Queen' and understands that Harold won, his "My Son" is a personal appropriation of Harold's merit. Victory is not an end but a mean, and only the cheers and applauds at the end remind us that the mission of sportsmen is also to both impress and inspire people, through a mutual sentiment of pride. And that the movie is set between two devastating World Wars, is not coincidental, for Sport is still the greatest affirmation of human spirit and war, its polar opposite.
"Chariots of Fire" is an inspirational masterpiece, inviting us to find the little spark that will inspire us to achieve ourselves, to fulfill our dreams, with patience and perseverance, a patience forever incarnated by the iconic slow-motion running on the beach, through Vangelis' divine score