C is For Chariots of Fire

A to Z Challenge 2023

    A Month At The Movies

 

Hello and welcome back to A Month at the Movies,  my contribution to the A to Z challenge for 2023.

This year I am copying from a myriad of other a to z challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter.  You can skip over this part if you want to.  

I love movies and have decided to share with you a movie each day that I have enjoyed to one degree or another.  With each entry, I'll give a brief synopsis of the film, share a positive and negative review from Rotten Tomatoes ( a website, I didn't use much at all until preparing for the challenge), discuss its resiliency (the theme of the A to Z challenge this year), and other tidbits like whether the film may appear in my top 100 film list, which I have been revamping this year. I think that's enough in the way of introduction, considering you'll be reading it (hopefully) 23 more times this month. 

Film: Chariots of Fire (1981)

Director: Hugh Hudson

 

Photo by David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I found out recently that the Chariots of Fire orchid is a hybrid.  The film Chariots of Fire is a hybrid of sorts as well.  Part biography, part sports movie.  It is also not one but two bio-pics grown together.  Eric Liddle and Harold Abrahams.  They may be competitors under the same flag in the Olympics, but I do not feel they needed to compete for screen time.  Each character's story was given enough time to blossom. 

Liddle is a man called by God whose Olympic ambitions and his dedication to God's plans are sometimes running in opposition. Abrahams is the son of a Lithuanian Jew who runs to overcome the prejudice of post-WWI Britain.  

Positive Tomato: This is a beautiful, unhurried film that unfolds a vision of the past that reminds us there once existed a time of innocence and tradition.  Dann Gire - Daily Herald

Negative Tomato: Cross and Charleson are capable leads, which makes the screenwriter's refusal to focus their characters all the more aggravating. Michael Maza - Arizona Republic

Resiliency: There are many excellent moments of resiliency in this film.  I have decided to show you one and tell you about another.

The first one takes place in the movie at a meet where Harold Abrahams sees Eric Little run for the first time.

  

 

The second resiliency moment I'd like to document happens in the aftermath of a race where Little has just beaten Abrahams.  

After the race, Abrahams is disappointed and is sitting in the stands unable to be consoled by his girlfriend.  He finally says to her, If I can't win, I won't race.  She replies back, If you won't race, you can't win.  

I love the symmetry of that moment and how it ties into what Abrahams witnessed Little do in the previous scene. He got up and finished the race.  

Top 100:  Chariots of Fire is one of my top 5 favorite movies of all time. In 2011 when I posted my top 10 here it was in 5th place.  In 2017 when I made my top 100 list it had moved past Casablanca into 4th place.  When I finish revising the list later this year (hopefully) It should still be 4th or 5th.  

A to Z Connections: This is the second sports movie on the list so far.  The first one of course was yesterday's Breaking Away.  The star of Breaking Away, Dennis Christopher portrays an American Olympic runner in Chariots of Fire. 

Picture and Quote:

I believe God made me for a purpose, for China,but he

                                        also made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.

For more of the letter C in the A to Z challenge, click here.

I will be posting a special A to Z Chariots of Fire theme Easter Egg a little bit later in the day.

Next Time: D is for Doppelganger