Review of Chariots of Fire (1981) by Robert T — 30 Aug 2008

This is a film from, alas, an age gone by.

An age where people strove to appreciate things for what they actually were, no more and no less, and distrusted "patronising", politicising, diluting, or in any way misrepresenting them.

There are many points at which Chariots of Fire could have lost its way and got mired in misrepresentation, but it doesn't; it is a noble film far above the usual run and holds its course with an integrity that this wanton, misled age can never recognize, let alone aspire to.

Nowadays everyone wants to look behind history and find "the truth" behind history - Chariots of Fire has no such devious ambition; it is a film straight as an arrow and admirable as they used to be.

I'll bet that young people these days will think it old-fashioned; it is a sign of how the world has gone after propaganda and selfishness rather than truth.

For those looking for summary and plot here, Eric Liddell was the Scottish champion short and middle distance runner who refused to run his heat in the Paris Olympic Games in 1924, because the heat was held on a Sunday. Eric was a born-again Christian and refused to dishonor the Sabbath. Subsequently, and due to a teammate's largesse, he competed in the 400 metres and won a gold medal. Chariots of Fire is also the story of Harold Abrahams, an Englishman and a Jew, who wanted to conquer the world come what may on the track, and won the 100 metres gold medal in Paris.

Watch the masterly film-making, the will to put on film what actually was and not what the filmmaker thought the audience should think, the beautiful acting and the simplicity and grandeur of the issues involved. Also watch it to find the big heart of lovely old England, the England we all know and love. Then there is Vangelis' anthemic title song, a beautiful instrumental with shades of genuine grandeur.

I guarantee there will never be a film like this ever again, because this age has surrendered the capability to make a film of this kind of integrity.