Race 2016
I was glad to be given a copy of this movie about Jesse Owens, who dominated the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin. I didn't know that much about Owens' story and the movie seems to follow the facts pretty closely. The movie starts with Owens leaving home to attend Ohio State University and ends with his triumph at the Olympics. Owens was setting national records in high school, so he had to have already been famous within the track community when the movie starts, but they play that down. He did continue to get better. The legend is that Hitler was angry that Owens won four gold medals, but Owens already had records in most of those events, so as long as he was able to compete, he was the favorite to win by far. The movie spends a lot of time on whether he would get to compete. The US wasn't sure it wanted to endorse Hitler's games by participating and the NAACP asked Owens not to go in protest. At the same time, Hitler and Goebbles didn't want any black or jewish athletes at the games. So a lot had to happen for Owens to get to the Olympics. In fact the Germans let black athletes stay in the same quarters as white athletes, while on the ship over, the white Americans had first class cabins and Owens and the other black athletes did not. Hitler allegedly saluted Owens, but Roosevelt never sent a telegram or invited Owens to the White House. That is some of the crazy stuff Owens had to put up with and I think the movie does a good job of showing that while also showing the usual drama with his girlfriend and also with his coach (played by Jason Sudeikis). The coaches were no picnic either. Critics weren't crazy about this movie and I think as a movie it is maybe too simple and the performances aren't great. But I enjoyed getting to see some of the real story and controversy, both in regards to race and the Nazis. There were some real surprises for me, so I can still give the movie an A-
Written: 28 Oct 2025
Owned on: Digital