Customer Reviews

Chariots of Fire

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

Chariots of Fire is an outstanding epic based on the lives of two men (among others), Eric Liddel and Harold Abrahams. Eric Liddel, a Scotsman and a missionary believes he can succeed as a testament to his undying faith. Harold Abrahams, a Jew wishes to succeed to prove that Jews are no inferior to others in post WWI England. This movie is one of refinement, ambition, commitment and integrity. In that era, there are tempers when the Masters of Cambridge do not take lightly to Harold being trained by a professional as they pride in the amateur aspect of the sport and the esprit de corps. His interaction with his girl friend when he loses a race is a special point. She says, "He won fair and square. There is nothing you can do about it." Then he retorts, "I do not run to compete, I run to win, if I cannot win, I should not run." She replies, "If you do not run, you cannot win." It ends with her frustration and saying, "Grow up". As compelling as the racing scenes are, it's really the depth of the two main characters that touches the viewer, as they forcefully drive home the theme that victory attained through devotion and sacrifice is the most admirable feat that one can achieve.

I am glad that I have a wide screen edition of this DVD, however this is a region 3 and cannot play in a regular DVD player, as they play only the region 1 version. It is similar to the version released in UK. Even this version does not have a good audio and video transfer. There are dots in the video and the audio should be better considering the outstanding score by Vangelis. The widescreen edition is farbetter than the one released in US though. I am sad that they are not releasing this one here. I got this one in US through another website, thanks to my enhanced DVD player. So, I would give 5 stars for the movie and 4 stars for the transfer (I am being very generous here).

It being my father's favourite film, I decided to give it a go. Although at first I thought it to be a quaint little story about British Olympic glory in 1924, after watching it the first time (and many times since) and listening to the superb musical score, I realised it is much more. One of those rare films, with superb acting and a believable and intelligent storyline and screenplay, that has an intangable extra. That extra drives you to view the movie again - and again and again, tirelessly -- only to discover new dimensions to characters, new meanings to the seemingly simple storyline, and of course a little bit about fascinating British history. (Not to mention movie making and acting -- real acting, an alternative to Hollywood -- and a very refreshing one! The characters are well developed -- the movie is only slow moving if you value slap-dash, one dimensional, superficial development. I thought the movie was well-paced and believable. There's a quality to it rarely seen in the mainstream Hollywood movie, and that's precisely what made it special. The cinematography is still breathtaking, the beach scene with complimentary soundtrack being one of those unforgettable moments in movie history. And quite frankly I *liked* the characters' plight, their passions, their individual means and ends, and how each tackles difficulties in his own way while at the same time acting in the name of British sportspersonship, national pride, etc.

Even though this has an air of Merchant-Ivory crossed with Masterpiece Theater, and no genuine movie stars (at least at the time, except Sir John Gielgud), the movie shines from beginning to end.

I saw this in the theater when it first came out and was very pleasantly surprised. It's a true story with a great message that still plays like Rocky with a brain -- exciting, funny, dramatic, well-acted, beautifully photographed. Unfortunately, not everyone will like it, though, because it brings back the days when drama meant dialogue, subtlety and intelligence, not explosions, predictable plots and computer-generated imagery. You have to watch and listen and have an appreciation of history. You can't watch this one and be distracted. Best to watch when you have time and can savor the moments, not when you have a room full of children, for instance.

This movie ranks among my all-time favorites. Filled with the passion of sports and the feats of excellence of the Olympic Games, it remains at its core a story of integrity, loyalty, and idealism. (Forget about relating to this film if these qualities do not appeal to you at least somewhat.)

And the acting, the costumes, the sets and background scenes - every bit of it was elegant and satisfying.

I give Chariots of Fire five stars, wishing I could rate it much, much higher.

I remember I loved this movie when it first came out in the cinema. Revisiting it over 25 years later, I was a bit disappointed. It is a great movie - no question, but it left me a bit flat, and I found certain aspects of it rather cliched. Just seems a bit too jolly hockey sticks at times. The bonus disk is UTTERLY boring and really not worth watching, was hoping for more material on the actual Olympics themselves and the real life characters. Still the film itself is an important part of cinematic history and vital to any serious collection.

Mini Review of one of my top 10 favorite films of all time.

Chariots of Fire is the excellent story of two runners (Eric Liddell, portrayed by the late Ian Charleson and Harold Abrahams who is played by Ben Cross)in the 1924 Olympic Games.

It is an understated epic showing the dichotomy of faith and self determination. It is also two fine character studies of men blessed with as much courage and fire as they do athletic prowess.

The overall effect of the film is inspirational. The stories of these great men inspire me and I believe countless others to always live life to its utmost. Two scenes stand out in my memory that illustrate this effect.

The first takes place at a track meet between Scotland and France. Liddell takes a bad spill in the 400 meters event and somehow manages to not only get back up but catch up with the field and win the race as he falls to the ground utterly exhausted form his ordeal.

When Sam Mussabini (Abrahams' Coach) comments "It's not the prettiest 400 I've ever seen Liddell but it is certainly the bravest" the audience is given words with which to process the exhilarating feat they just witnessed.

The second scene takes place after Abrahams loses a race to Liddell. Abrahams is devastated as he has never lost before. He comments to his girl friend that he won't race of he can't win. She counters back: "You can't win if you don't race."

Whether it be in words or pictures Chariots of Fire communicates to the viewer that life is a race worth running full out to the end.

Inspiring story of character, conviction and honour. The setting is British upper class school/society after the first world war (1924). The plot was split between two characters contrasted in their approaches to life and racing. The dialogue was sometimes difficult to decipher for its British terminology, accent and style. I watched it with my 80+ year old parents and my 12 year old son. All enjoyed it, but we all missed various parts of the dialogue and story. They also had some difficulty figuring out which character was which, given that some of the secondary characters looked similar to the main character.

The athletes of the British running team who went with hope in their hearts and wings in their heels in the VIII Olympiad in Paris in 1924 is the focus of this movie, but there's also the dynamics of what it means to be English, and the reconciliation of one's soul and religious convictions in the Modern Age. Three of them are students from Cambridge. There is the quiet and soft-spoken Aubrey Montague, Lord Andrew Lindsey, and Harold Abrahams. As the head of Caius (pronounced Keys) College tells them when they first attend in 1919, they are the first post-war generation who have inherited the dreams of a generation that perished on the fields of France, a generation embodying "goodness, zeal,...and intellectual promise."

The two main athletes here are a contrast from one another. One is Harold Abrahams, a Jew who wants to be seen as English as the fellow next to him. Hence his enrolling in all these clubs and fraternities in Caius College, from track, tennis, and even the Gilbert and Sullivan glee club-he wants to enter the Christian, Anglo-Saxon corridors of power, i.e. the old school tie. He succeeds in getting to an English girl in the form of Sybil Gordon, who doesn't mind he's Jewish. He can run like the wind, and nothing would fulfill his dream of being English more than winning so he'll be accepted, but he's so driven, hinging so much of his success on his winning, that he acts like its his own funeral when he loses in a race. He engages Sam Mussabini, a private and professional coach, which is contrary to the implied rules of Cambridge. When the heads of Trinity House and Caius House, (Sir John Gielgud and Lindsay Anderson) use their prep-school mentality to chastise him, saying Cambridge prided itself on the amateur attitude as opposed to the professional, and an esprit de Corps as opposed to individual glory, Abrahams tells them off.

Scottish Eric Liddle, on the other hand, is a missionary born in China, who plans to return there to continue God's work, but the "muscular Christian" runs like a wild animal. With religion as a metaphor, he compares faith to running a race, describing the energy of the soul, the elation of breaking that tape, but he says that the power comes from within. "If you commit yourself to the love of Jesus Christ-that is how you win a straight race." To win is to honour God, and the gift he was given. His faith is tested twice, between the missionary work and running, and his respect for God and running on the Sabbath. He's clearly more Victorian, but also a Scot, choosing God over country instead of the more secular British. But will his faith help him triumph over favoured Americans Jackson Scholz and Charles Paddock?

The slow-mo shots of the running athletes, the looks of elation, the disappointment of those who didn't qualify shows the various reactions of the soul. And New Age composer Vangelis Pathaniossou made his mark with his score, during the races and the scenes of Americans training, but especially the moving main theme that opens and closes the movie as the athletes are running along the ocean shore. This sequence itself is repeated twice, once where we know nothing about these athletes on who the cameras pan in on, but by the end, when the camera does its work, we know these people better, and they have names, as the credits identify actor and role. This was an early role for Nicholas Farrell (Montague), who was Horatio in Branagh's Hamlet. But Ben Cross as the driven Abrahams, Ian Charleson as the debonair blond Christian Liddell, Nigel Havers as Lindsay, Ian Holm (Mussabini), and Alice Krige (Sybil) do well. And yes, the Head Porter at Caius College is Richard Griffiths, best known as Harry Potter's Uncle Vernon, and quite thinner too.

As the winner of four Oscars including Best Picture, Chariots Of Fire remains an unpretentious film where the finish line is a moral, spiritual, and of course a physical goal, and how one must be true to oneself to reach that goal.

Warner Brothers has definitively stated in recent DVD future release announcements that work on compiling the necessary components and extra goodies for a widescreen DVD release of Chariots of Fire is underway. Expect it to be released to the US market around March, 2005 - just before the Academy Awards. It will be well worth the wait!

A must see for all track runners...it tells the story of a man of great courage and faith (Eric Liddell) and how he brought glory to God in the 1924 Paris Olympics.