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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1982)
‘Chariots’ a big winner • • • ‘Chariots of Fire’ Ian Charleson, Ben Cross Cinema World "Chariots of Fire" is not a "sports” movie. Although it tells the story of two Olympic runners, it deals with much more Much, much more Ian Charleson is Eric Liddell, a Scot tish missionary who devotes himself whole-heartedly to his beliefs “God made me to be a missionary," he says, “but he also made me fast." So fast, in fact, that he becomes a member of the 1924 British Olympic team By doing the best he can on the track, Liddell feels, he gives glory to God He gives every race his all, result ing in a dedication that makes him get up and continue a race after he falls, resulting in collapse after he wins In spite of his worldly glories, he is more concerned with the race for the crown of glory in heaven, which he preaches about as he goes from meet to meet Ben Cross is Harold Abrahams, a Jew who feels he has to excel on the track to prove his competence to class-cons cious British society His sense of per sonal worth depends on winning, and he becomes despondent and uncon solable after losses For Abrahams, competition is all-im portant, and victory becomes his god He hires a professional coach (well portrayed by Ian Holm) to help him achieve his goals, and he finds himself Liddell's competitor, and then his teammate “Chariots of Fire" is an extraordinary film, quite possibly the best of the year Director Hugh Hudson, producer David Puttnam and screenwriter Colin Wel land have managed to tell a story of such humanity and feeling that the audience is swept into the story without knowing it Rather than showing Liddell as a straight-laced saint, he is shown to be totally human, with human frailties, facing struggles of faith Instead of showing Abrahams as an unlikeable. arrogant S O B , he is portrayed as a man who is sure of himself, but needs the acknowledgement of the world to justify his life He doesn't know what it means to be satisfied He takes an overly great deal of pride in his victor ies, but he is still a child, desperately needing attention As a result, the audience finds itself unconsciously relating to the char acters, but the movie does not become a parade or a pep rally We are made to root for the characters, but not cons ciously At no point does this become more apparent than in the final scene, in which Liddell races for victory against a field of the best runners in the world The audience runs each step of the race with him, feels the knives of pain when the runner can't get enough air and feels the “joy of God" rushing through the athlete s body as he nears the tape Ian Charleson is magnificent as a Scottish missionary who becomes an Olympic runner In “Chariots of Fire.” This thrill is made more intense by cinematographer David Watkm and Hudson's impeccable choice of camera shots and effects Slow motion is used to show the runners' grace, continued on page 8B ...while ‘Personal Best’ trips over a few hurdles ‘Personal Best' Mariel Hemingway Patrice Donnelly "Personal Best" isn't a totally bad movie, but enough things go wrong that even the tact that some of it was filmed in Eugene can't save it Robert Towne wrote, directed and produced the film, a story of two women athletes who "become friends, lovers, and eventually competitors " Mariel ("Manhattan") Hemingway plays Chris Cahill, the underdog hero of the film Unfortunately, the film rests heavily on her performance, and she underplays her role so badly that her track shoe some times shows more emotion To counteract this, Towne did three things. One of them worked He cast Patrice Donnelly, a newcomer to the screen, oppo site Hemingway as her lover competitor-roommate Donnelly is superb, showing a sincerity and natural athletic grace that makes Hemingway's perfor mance look even worse Towne then decided to throw in all sorts of nifty filmic devices in an attempt to inject some feeling back into the picture Surprisingly enough most of them work A wide variety of camera angles are used, creat ing interesting and exciting vi sual images. Unfortunately, he and cinematographer Michael Chapman got carried away with slow motion, and the audience is subjected to shot after shot of slow motion everything Al though it gives the feeling of graceful movement Towne in tended, it also makes for a tediously plodding film Lastly, Towne threw in lots of nudity to keep the audience's attention Although the explicit love scenes between Heming way and Donnelly are surpris ingly sensitive and effective, he adds shots of athlete s well tuned bods as if they came cheaper in large quantites The audience soon gets bored by shot after shot of the naked team in the steam bath and tightly-clad crotches flying over the high jump bar If that wasn t bad enough, the film got tripped up by a number of little nasties, which nailed down the lid on its coffin Per sonal Best' tells the story of athletes preparing for the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which the U S boycotted This was a tragic turn of events for many athletes who, like the char acters in the film, spent years of their lives preparing themselves continued on page 7B SAVE MONEY Buy your airline tickets now. 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