The Olympic Games have historically been a subject of fascination for filmmakers across the world for almost a century. This is not just because of the spectacular stories of sportspersons and their journeys to this internationally significant event, but also because of how politically charged these games have been, as global platforms for the voices of individuals and their communities. While several landmark sports films have the Olympics as the pivot of their premise, there are also films from other genres like historical dramas and war films, which are set with the Olympic games as their backdrop. The 2024 Olympic games are currently underway in Paris and many of the stories emerging from the event already sound like possible plots for grand cinematic renditions in the near future. Now is a great time to look back at some of the many interesting films around the Olympic games that have really turned this sporting event into a stage, where a multi-faceted history of the human race perpetually unfolds.
Tokyo Olympiad (1965): Originally commissioned by the Japanese government as a journalistic take on the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games, Tokyo Olympiad directed by Kon Ichikawa is now considered a timeless cinematic masterpiece for its visceral encapsulation of the sporting body. The way the director has illustrated the drama in sports through shots ranging from extremely wide angles to deeply intimate close-ups, makes the film a remarkable study of the human emotions that run through the athletes as they participate in the sporting events.
The intriguing fact about the film is that the final product by Ichikawa was actually quite contrary to the expectations of the Japanese government. The film had been commissioned by them to showcase Japan’s developmental recovery from the ravages of World War II. However, Ichikawa produced a film that cinematically navigated the breathtaking atmosphere of sporting events, the psyche of the athletes and the exhilaration of the audience. Consequently, the government compelled Ichikawa to edit the original 165-minute version and release a 93-minute version that better suited their expectations. However, the original version has now found a global release on online platforms.
Chariots of Fire (1981): This British historical sports film, directed by Hugh Hudson and produced by David Puttnam, is often cited as a classic in the sports film genre because of the way it uses the larger themes of nationalist fervour, spirituality, and the struggle against racial prejudice to cinematically draw on running as a sport. Centred around the lives of two real British athletes, Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) and Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross), the film has the 1924 Summer Olympics as its backdrop, which was interestingly also held in Paris, exactly a century ago.
The film is woven through the forces that drive these two athletes- while Liddell, a devout Scottish missionary runs as he believes it is his divine duty, Abrahams runs to fight the prejudices that he faces as an English Jew. The film is also renowned for its iconic soundtrack, composed by the Greek electronic composer Vangelis, which became a recurrent pop culture reference in several subsequent films and television series worldwide.
Fists of Freedom: The Story of the ’68 Summer Games (1999): This Peabody-award winning documentary produced by HBO Sports and Black Canyon Productions marks a very important period in America’s history; in the backdrop of Martin Luther King’s and Kennedy’s assassinations, it is set in the America of 1968 that was rocked by massive protests against the war in Vietnam and racial inequality. The film gives centre-stage to the legendary “black power” salute by U.S. athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the victory stand at the 1968 Mexico Summer Olympics.
Fists of Freedom stitches together rare footage of the actual events with interviews of the various athletes who participated in and bore witness to the historic moment when the fists were raised by Smith and Carlos and the response that they received for their silently loud protest.
Munich (2005): This Spielberg production is a screen adaptation of the 1984 book Vengeance by George Jonas. Although not a sports film, it is set against the backdrop of the 1972 Olympics held in Munich, when the Palestinian militant organisation Black September infiltrated the Olympic village and attacked the Israeli Olympic team, killing 11 players. The film is a historical drama in which a Mossad agent, Avner Kaufman (Eric Bana), is appointed by the Israeli government, to carry out a retaliatory operation against 11 individuals with the help of three others. The film traces the course of Kaufman’s operation, during which he begins to question the morality of his actions.
The film courted a lot of controversy in the U.S. for its portrayal of the Israeli assassins, even inviting boycott calls from the Zionist Organisation of America. However, several film critics still hold the film in high regard for its craftsmanship and for attempting to open a dialogue on the politics of terrorism and counter-terrorism.
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013): Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, this sports biopic is based on the life of one of the most renowned Indian athletes, Milkha Singh, popularly known as “The Flying Sikh”. The film opens with the 1960 Summer Olympics held in Rome, where Singh (Farhan Akhtar) competed in the 400 metre race. Singh’s race in the Olympics became famous for the moment when he was leading the race but decided to look behind him, which made him drop down to the fourth position in the race.
The film takes a moving dive into Milkha Singh’s life from this moment on, dwelling on the psychological trauma that he had suffered during the Partition of the Indian subcontinent, in which he lost several members of his family to communal violence. It reflects on the various social and political forces that constitute the lives of athletes in a tender and poignant way, foregrounding the horrors of Partition through its poetic cinematography.
Unbroken (2014): This film is also a screen adaptation of a 2010 non-fiction book by Laura Hillenbrand called Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption. Directed and produced by Angelina Jolie, this historical war drama follows the life of the American Olympian Louis Silvie Zamperini (Jack O’ Connell), who competed as a runner in the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, and who was later trapped in a Japanese prison camp while serving in the U.S. airforce during World War II.
The film, which traces a powerful and inspirational tale of human perseverance through its protagonist, alternates between larger-than-life cinematic spectacles and a quieter capturing of human intimacy, bringing together the generic styles of both the war and sports films within its form.
I, Tonya (2017): This quirky black comedy sports mockumentary directed by Craig Gillespie follows the American figure skater Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) through her life. Harding is known for being part of one of the most scandalous media events in the Olympics history, where her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan) orchestrated an attack on a rival ice skater Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver). The press gave the investigation into this incident incessant coverage, and continued to pursue Harding for a long time following these events.
The film, shot from a satirical viewpoint, is sensitive in its treatment of the circumstances that led to the endless media spectacle that Harding became embroiled in. It is in its unique style of visual conception, of swinging between the deadpan and the poignant, that this film makes for a riveting watch.
