by Jerry Roberts
WINS:
Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay (Colin Welland), Best Costume Design (Milena Canonero), Best Original Score (Vangelis)
NOMINATIONS:
Best Supporting Actor (Ian Holm), Best Director (Hugh Hudson), Best Film Editing (Terry Rawlings)
Safe to say, there are only two things that the average moviegoer remembers about Chariots of Fire. First, it was the movie that bested Raiders of the Lost Ark in the Best Picture race. Second, of course, was Vangelis’ unforgettable score. Everything else about the film seems to have slipped out of common knowledge.
From a competitive standpoint Chariots of Fire was a relatively safe choice, but that’s not much of a commentary given that 1981 was a relatively safe year for mainstream movies. The Best Picture nominees reflected this with films like On Golden Pond, Atlantic City, Reds and again Raiders of the Lost Ark, all of which had varying degrees of quality but all were ragingly old-fashioned. The Best Picture nominees that year were comfortable, respectable, and relatively inoffensive, and none more than Chariots of Fire.
The win for Best Picture didn’t come out of nowhere. At the time, Chariots of Fire received a generally good reaction from critics and garnered none-too-shabby box office returns. The reaction since has shifted wildly with some finding it rich in its personal details and others finding it stiff and boring. Perhaps owing to that legacy, Chariots of Fire largely dropped out of sight after winning the Academy Award and today lingers in a negative space with most audiences unwilling to give it another look.
Watching it again the other night, I could see where impatient movie-goers might struggle a bit. I did not. I found it to be a deeply engrossing drama that takes a relatively benign sport – dramatically speaking – and explores the individual lives of those involved and the emotional, social, national and spiritual reasons why they must compete.
Chariots of Fire is a story about two men who competed on the 1924 British Olympic track team but more than that, it’s a portrait of men whose desire to run for King and Country is only trumped by their passion to follow different paths to success. On one side is Eric Liddle (Ian Charleson), the Scottish son of devout Christian missionaries whose deep religious faith is the engine on which he runs. On the other is Harold Abraham (Ben Cross), son of a Lithuanian Jew whose life of privilege is curtailed only by antisemitism.
Key to this story is the time in which it takes place. This is only five years out from the end of World War I, when England is struggling to rebuild itself and its national pride. Liddle and Abraham represent two men who understand the need to run for God and country but also separate individual paths that are the fulcrum upon which they compete. The pushback from their individual desires brings forth questions about the rather myopic notion of blind loyalty to one’s country. Is it worth overturning personal beliefs for the sake of national pride?
I really grew to appreciate this story, of these men and their passion. They are admirable, honorable and individual. But what of the complaints? What of the film being stiff and boring. Well, that depends on your taste. Again, I found the film engaging for what it is, but others found it rather dusty and dull. I get that. Dramatically it is not in any hurry to reach a conclusion and I think that’s what makes it great. I appreciated a lot of the choices made here. I wasn’t bored by it at all. Its a perfect portrait of why people do the thing that they love and what drives them to be the best.
– Jerry Dean Roberts
The opening scene
The Oscar for Best Picture (Watch Loretta Young and then ask why the show runs so long)
Siskel and Ebert’s review
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