Skip to main content

My Review of the Jessie Owens Biopic Film, RACE.

I
Los Angeles, CA--Last night I attended a screening of RACE at the Director's Guild Theater in Beverly Hills.  I was waiting and waiting to see my personal favorite actress, Carice van Houten playing Adolf Hitler's cinematographer, Leni Riefenstahl.    

Riefenstahl was more than a filmmaker, she was an amazing artist that invented film equipment like jibes and cranes that are still in use today. 

RACE was about the Berlin 1936 Olympic star athlete, Jessie Owens wonderfully played by a fine young actor, Stephan James.  

The script by Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel was a historically correct, spellbinding masterpiece.  

Actor, Jason Sudeikis rocked as Owen's coach, Larry Snyder.  The issues of racial differences and bigotry were overcome here by a simple conspiracy to make Owens the fastest man alive. 

In 1936 while World War Two was still unthinkable the Nazis were rounding up and deporting Jews.  That atrocity and others were not lost in this offering. 

The treatment of Jews by the Nazis was no small issue to the Olympic Committee.  There were serious questions of a USA boycott of the Berlin games. Avery Brundage played by Jeremy Irons and Jeremiah Mahoney played William Hurt proved well up to those important portrayals. 

Owens' personal life was expertly fleshed out through the terrific performance of Shanice Banton  as Ruth Solomon.  

My favorite actress, Carice van Houten thrilled me with an authentic German accent. This talented Dutch thespian has got a natural gift for languages as she effortlessly delivered her lines in both German an English.

The writers gave van Houten a special challenge to "selectively" translate some angry exchanges between Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, played by Barnaby Metschurat and Avary Brundage (Irons).

I love van Houten's special gift for facial expressions with her gorgeous big eyes subtly rolling.  You need never guess what she's thinking!  She grew up watching silent films and obviously learned that from the likes of Laurel & Hardy and Charlie Chaplin. 

Riefenstahl was not a Nazi but a opportunistic filmmaker using well  the envious and unlimited budget to showcase the Olympics.  She wouldn't even let Hitler dictate how to make this historic sports ducumentary. 

I'd love to see these writers and this director, Stephen Hopkins roll further with van Houten staring once again but this time in a second biopic of this amazing filmmaker. 

This is a must see film.  There are those people with preconceived political or racial notions that will expect a political spin.  There is no spin!  This is a showcase of determination to transcend hate, ugliness and politics through a sports competition to simply win the gold.  This film wins the gold! 

The trailer: 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A 40 Caliber Nightmare Is Caught On Tape.

So you’re confident that that .40 caliber S&W service round will keep you safe. Maybe you’ll have second thoughts after you see this video. One hot summer night in 1994 Tempe and Mesa Arizona police were involved in a pursuit with this suspect who ran into a stranger’s apartment to hide after being shot TWICE in the chest. He was shirtless and you can see the blood pumping out of those two wounds. What’s really frightening is just how agile this fellow is as he struts to the ambulance. If he was not handcuffed and had a knife or a gun, ask yourself if he could still hurt you, your partner or a hostage? If your jurisdiction demands that officers carry either the 9MM or the .40 Caliber S&W it’s time to show this video to your bosses and lobby to have the .45 ACP round authorized. The switch may well reduce the screaming by self-appointed community activists about how many rounds police had to use on a suspect. The really talented and courageous video journalist, Karen Ke...
64 comments
Read more

The origin of the feature film, COME FRIDAY…

CLick On the pictures to see full size versions. Long ago there was a young lady I had the hots for in a big way (Yes, I know that hots is not a word). She was pretty, incredibly bright, and had some real elegance about her. She had a love for children and basic kindness that you don’t often see in someone her age. I met her parents and could understand she came from a much more stable home than mine. I was raised by a single, welfare mom and suddenly found myself way out-classed. For whatever reasons things did not workout they way I had hoped. Sadly for me, we went on our separate ways. From time to time I’d run into this lady in various places where our job had taken us. Whenever this happened my heart would skip a beat or two. I left my hometown Chicago, and moved to Arizona where I founded my detective agency. As a private eye and soon a TV news producer too, my career took me to the highest profile criminal events in Arizona and throughout the country. There’s no question that ...
42 comments
Read more

America Will See Its Worst Race Riot Yet This Summer

Star Prosecution Witness, Rachel Jeantel Sanford, FL —Yes, the George Zimmerman trial here has thousands of African-Americans getting ready for some serious bloodletting. I don’t want to make idle and dire predictions but this nation has never been so divided and racially sensitive.  Our African-American President took sides on this case at the very beginning.  That ratified a George Zimmerman guilty verdict in the minds of millions. There’s just one little problem, and that is the murder case should have never been filed.  It was filed purely for political reasons despite the fact that it was a simple justifiable homicide.  Zimmerman was on the block watch lookout program and followed a suspicious Trayvon Martin after he used an improper entrance to a gated community.  Zimmerman was acting as the eyes and ears of the Sanford Police Department. Martin did not like being followed and knew that he could easily beat up the out-of-shape...
80 comments
Read more