arts & entertainment
‘The Athlete’ Chronicles Ethiopia’s
Famed Olympian, Abebe Bikila
Streetball
starts at 7 p.m. at the Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy
Blvd. Please arrive early to guarantee a seat. The screenings
are free, like all African Film Festival events.
Directors Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew spoke with
The Skanner News from Germany and New York about
their critically acclaimed film, which was “made for more
than Paranormal Activity and less than Avatar. But much
closer to Paranormal Activity.”
Abebe Bikila
By Brian Stimson
Of The Skanner News
F
or more than 20 years now, Ethiopian filmmaker and
actor Rasselas Lakew has worked to bring Ethiopia’s
most famous – and forgotten – Olympian to the
screen. On Thursday, Feb. 17 and Friday, Feb. 18 the
Cascade Festival of African Films will host screenings of
“The Athlete” – an award-winning nar-
rative film about Abebe Bikila, an
unknown, barefooted marathon runner
who won the 1960 Olympic marathon
in Rome and became the first Black
African to win a gold medal at the
Olympics.
But Bikila’s story does not end there.
Lakew – who also portrays him in the
film – says Bikila’s life took on epic
and humbling proportions. Not only did
he win the 1964 Olympic marathon in Tokyo about four
minutes ahead of his rivals, he competed in archery and dog
sledding after an accident left him without the use of his
legs.
The Feb. 17 screening is at noon at PCC Cascade,
Moriarty A&H Building, room 104. The Feb. 18 screening
the Skanner news: What was it that inspired you to make
this film?
rasselas lakew: There was a list in 1999 in the New York
Times, who were the greatest athletes of the millennium. I
couldn’t find his name. I said, You have to be kidding me.
You’re putting some guys that I know – I have the highest
respect for the American runners and the Jordans and Alis
and Jesse Owens’ and Gretzkys and … how about this guy
from Africa who is just a shepherd who conquered Rome in
his bare feet? How much more do you want him to do, to be
in that league? Winning something in barefeet over cobble-
stones next to the Coliseum makes him the last gladiator. I
felt there was a bias in media. I said that is the key. I’m
going to make a film and call it the Athlete and everyone’s
going to see it.
One thing I would like to share about the title – The
Athlete. It’s a bit audacious. The athlete
is a very common name. I really felt he
was overlooked, that the generation
now was overlooking him. There was
an article (by Olympic historian Bud
Greenspan) who wrote about Abebe
Bikila in 1989 … I thought I’d take it
further.
The main thing in sports is not only
the victory, but the place, Rome. It’s not
Paris, it’s not London, it’s not Zurich,
it’s Rome. The gateway for the Western World. When a
shepherd comes from Ethiopia, he wears a symbol like
David for us, and Rome was Goliath. Because we had gone
back and forth for 110 years fighting wars with the Romans.
This film is something for the ages. A thousand years from
now, they will say, a shepherd conquered Rome. That was
Portland screening
continues the
Cascade Festival of
African Films Feb.
17, 18
Look for an interview with the director of
“Streetball” in next week’s issue.
Abebe Bikila.
And when he did it again in Tokyo, that was the first time
a marathon runner had done that in the history of the
Olympics. When he did that, he ran every mile the same
way, he finished four and a half minutes ahead of everyone.
It’s the widest margin in Olympic history.
… And then what happens is that he loses his legs. All of
a sudden it becomes the Achilles story. Now he has a weak-
ness. God has come and taken his feet out. What is he going
to do next? The film is about that. What he achieved after
that is the premise of the film. And he becomes the first par-
alympian in archery, and he becomes a great dog-sledder in
the Nordic. He wins a 25 kilometer dog sledding competi-
tion in Norway. He dies at 41. So he encompasses every-
thing an athlete would be called because an athlete is tested
when his weapon is taken away from him. Just like an artist
who lost an eye. He was tested in that way unlike many ath-
See OlYMPiaN on page 13
february 16, 2011 The Portland Skanner Page 9