The world’s largest sporting event, the Olympic Games (OGs) are an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the seventh art. For decades, they have offered captivating stories of perseverance, athletic exploits, mixed with a good dose of drama and conflict. The duty offers you five films that have staged this sporting event, to watch between two events of the current Paris Olympics. A selection from our cultural journalist, Annabelle Caillou.
Nadia, Butterfly
(2020)
At just 23 years old, Nadia decides that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be her last. Tired of the sacrifices, the professional swimmer — an expert in butterfly stroke — wants to retire. A decision that is necessary, but not easy either. Nadia has been swimming since she was a child, her identity has been forged around this sport that she is passionate about. Who is she really when she is not in the water?
In this fiction, filmmaker Pascal Plante takes us behind the scenes of the world of swimming, sports competitions and preparation for the Olympic Games. He also and above all focuses his camera on the thoughts that torment the athlete in search of herself.
To add a dose of reality, Nadia is played by real Olympic medalist Katerine Savard. The swimmer also participated in the real Tokyo Olympics (postponed to 2021).
Nadia, Butterfly is the only Canadian film part of the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival that year.
Watch on ICI Tou.tv, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play
The Richard Jewell case (2019)
It wasn’t the sporting exploits of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics that caught director Clint Eastwood’s attention, but rather the bombing that marred the games. The Richard Jewell case is inspired by the true story of an ordinary security guard who saved the lives of many people by keeping them away from a suspicious package. But in a twist of fate, Jewell goes from hero to number one suspect in a matter of days, finding himself caught in a media and legal whirlwind.
The film earned an Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actress for Kathy Bates.
Watch on Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play
The color of victory (2016)
In 1936, in Berlin, the Summer Olympics were organized by the Nazi regime. An ideal context, according to Adolf Hitler, to promote Aryan supremacy. But the African-American Jesse Owens thwarted his plans by winning four gold medals and becoming the most decorated athlete of the 1936 Games.
In this historical drama, director Stephen Hopkins stages a part of the athlete’s life. He focuses particularly on the years leading up to the Berlin Games, recounting his surprising relationship with a white coach in the midst of racial segregation in the United States.
Watch on Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play
Munich (2005)
Inspired by true events, Munich tells the story of the terrorist attack by the Palestinian group Black September during the Munich Olympics in 1972. On September 5 of that year, eleven Israeli athletes were taken hostage in the Olympic Village and murdered almost live in front of hundreds of millions of viewers.
In his film, director Steven Spielberg focuses mainly on the investigation by Mossad, the Israeli secret service, which is searching for the culprits.
Munich was nominated in five Oscar categories.
Watch on Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play
Chariots of Fire (nineteen eighty one)
Director Hugh Hudson takes us back to 1924, to the Paris Summer Olympics. His film is inspired by the true story of Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell, two British sprinters. The former runs to fight the anti-Semitism that is rife in Europe and of which he himself is the target. The latter, a Scottish ultra-practicing Christian, runs for the “glory of God”. Everything sets them apart – starting with their religion – but they become friends and help each other through this ordeal, with one goal: to win… Which they will do, by the way.
Chariots of Fire won four Oscars, including Best Picture.
Watch on Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play