Review No.159: The Athlete

Damn those flipping Olympic Games. As a result it seems that a number of various athletic related documentaries and dramas, some of which that have been on the shelf for a while, are being released if only briefly. After the already reviewed Town of Runners we have The Athlete once again focusing on Ethiopia but this time on arguably their most famous Olympian marathon runner Abebe Bikila who made his name by running barefoot at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew's film has an odd mix of archive footage of Bikila's most famous moments and actors reconstructing the latter stages of his life. The film focuses in on Bikila trying to train up to run the marathon at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich after he feels he embarrassed himself and his country at the 1968 games in Mexico City. As we learn through flashback Bikila won the marathon in Rome before breaking his own record four years later in Tokyo with hopes to do the same in Munich however his friends are sceptical given his age and his record. The film then recounts the tragic car accident that left him as a paraplegic and that complete depression he suffered after this with him only breaking through this barrier by taking up archery. Though Bikila thought about running marathons in his wheelchair instead he went to Munich where he was honoured before taking up his friend's idea of competing in a sledging contest for people with impairments such as his. This sledging scene is one of the film's final pieces and for me was definitely the most involving as we saw that this had been filmed for a previous documentary but in this film we see he and his friends watching the film. Sadly Bikila died three years after his accident but his funeral, which we also see footage of, was attended by thousands of his countrymen so in a way this was sort of a celebration of his life.

Abebe Bikila is obviously a fairly famous figure in the world of athletics but I personally had never heard of him until this film where I learnt what a courageous person he was and how he was taken from us far too soon. The best bits of the film for me were watching the archive footage of Bikila's various marathons that were narrated by co-director Rasselas Lawkew, who also portrayed Bikila in the film, as this really gives you a picture of what the man was like. I feel that Lawkew and Frankel probably had enough of this footage to combine it with some talking heads and make a straight documentary as for me the dramatic scenes are what really let down The Athlete. Lawkew is seemingly better behind the camera as he is in front of it as I don't really think he gives justice to the character of Bikila and I felt he didn't really convey enough emotion in the scenes just after his accident where he is completely depressed. None of the supporting players really convince either and the scripted parts of the film sometimes seem almost comical, such as the scene in the bar where Bikila is threatened by some young soldiers who don't believe he should be celebrated in the way that he has been, maybe these are created from stories that have been written but for me I would've much preferred just to hear Bikila's story told by those who knew him best. The Athlete is definitely a film of two halves one is a captivating documentary about a great man who had a passion for his sport while the other is a poorly acted biopic with little merit other than to fill the gaps of the narrative where no archive footage is available. I'm just hoping there's better to come from the Olympics output, and indeed I promise at least one more athletic documentary before the week is through, as The Athlete for me fell at about the fourth hurdle.

Verdict: The Athlete is at its best when showing us archive footage of Bikila's achievements however the dramatic portion of the film falls flat therefore I will be fair and give it half marks so therefore it receives 5/10