Perfection!

Rating: 10/10 (25 November 2011)

Rarely times a film offered such a complete and rich view of what being an athlete means than "Chariots of Fire". This outstanding Best Picture Oscar winner deals not only with that but also brings incredibly good insights on how different religions peacefully work together for the same cause, which is running, not just to the extent of winning a medal and being recognized but also showing how God helps them. Right, there's some rivalry between a Catholic and a Jewish but they know how to tolerate each other without getting into a fist fight. And more, all of this happened during the Olympic games of 1924. More inspiring to our lives than that I don't know.
In those quiet and foggy days, there was a group of runners running on a beach training their bodies and minds to a cause, to get closer to God on a search for perfection, that's what running did for them or at least that's the way they saw it: to make heart and soul united in a magnificent and joyful experience that was more interesting than to run for their college or their countries while competing; those were good reasons but to run for God was the noblest of all. They were the chariots of fire!
As main characters of this adventure we have these two athletes: the preacher Eric Lidell (Ian Charleson, remarkable), a zealous Catholic and Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross), a Jewish student at Cambridge. Of course, there are other characters but those two and the trainer Sam Mussabini (Ian Holm) are the ones you really pay great attention for the way they share their views on life and athletics, their personal efforts in overcoming obstacles e.g. the ones involving Abrahams dealing with lots of Anti-Semitism at college trying to make his way through life.
I know there isn't such thing as a perfect film but this one gets closer to that in terms of composition, Colin Welland's script, Milena Canonero's costumes, the art direction, everything works! But the ones that deserve extra credit are the wonderful music composed by Vangelis and the acting by the cast. The music, a piece executed with lots of synthesizers, is very contemporary for a story that takes place in the 1920's but somehow perfectly fits the film, and now has an enormous cultural impact (whenever you hear that song you remember marathons, athletics and all. Sadly, most people know that the song comes from this film but they never watched it). And we have the excellent and very believable performances from the actors who play the runners (including Nigel Havers, Dennis Christopher and Brad Davis) with Charleson and Cross giving the best of the show. A great achievement by director Hugh Hudson, who after that haven't got much luck with his next projects.
It took me a long time to fully appreciate "Chariots of Fire", its messages and its magnificence. A bit overrated ("Reds" was the best picture that year and should've won the Oscar) but indeed a powerful work to make you marveled. To those who gave up on this film at one time I suggest to give it another chance because this is one that can only be really understood with time and with the experiences you have in life. Liking sport films or not, this is really a must see. 10/10