Cinema
Chariots of Fire
Hugh Hudson · 1981
Synopsis
London, 1978: a memorial service for the runner Harold Abrahams, at which his former teammate Lord Andrew Lindsay speaks. Flashback: young athletes in white run in slow motion on a beach, before the 1924 Games. Further back still, in 1919, Abrahams, a Jew, enters Cambridge and runs into antisemitism there. In Scotland, Eric Liddell, born in China to missionary parents, runs for the glory of God.
Context
To keep the label of costume drama away from his film, the director wanted an electronic score and turned to a Greek composer he had already worked with. He had at first wanted, for the beach run, an existing piece by him; the composer persuaded him to write a new theme, which became a hit record. The film won four awards from seven nominations, including best picture, ahead of an American epic that had twelve. It was shot for five and a half million dollars, with two little-known leading actors, and earned more than ten times that in the United States.
Who it is for
Two hours four minutes, in English with subtitles or in a French version. The athletes of the opening credits were filmed in Scotland, on a beach meant to be the one in Kent.
Prizes and reception
A critique of the prejudices of high society, which supporters of the Conservative government received as a tribute to effort and to country.
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