Review of film: “The ATHLETE” [ from 45th CIFF ]

Review of film:  “The ATHLETE”  [ from 45^th CIFF = Chicago Int'l. Film Festival  ]

   --  Documentary proof of the Indomitableness of the Human Spirit

              Rating:  8 of 10 stars. 

Showing at CIFF on 10-10-09 @ 5 PM;  10-13 @ 7 PM;  & 10-17 @ 12:20 PM.

After World War I, nations of the world formed the League Of Nations to try to AVOID such future worldwide wars…

…  One of the precursors to World War II was the FAILURE of big nations to support the League’s condemnation of the 1935 imperialist attack by Italy’s Mussolini on independent Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in the horn of Africa. International tensions were raised by the 2-year invasion, the League soon folded, Mussolini joined with Germany’s Hitler, & another World War followed a few years later…

…  One person who directly suffered from Italy’s attack was a young Ethiopian named ABEBE BIKILA whose family became separated by the attack.  He chanced to be born on the day (August 7, 1932) that the Marathon race was run at the Los Angeles Olympics, &, as irony would have it, he grew up to be one of the world’s greatest MARATHON runners…

…  This film very effectively combines documentary footage with live acting by RASSELAS LAKEW to tell the fascinating biopic life story of Abebe:

…  You’ll see how he learned to run barefoot thru the mountains near his home, & how he at the last minute was entered in the 1960 Olympic Marathon race --  which he won (ironically, in Rome, ITALY!) to become the first black African to win an Olympic gold medal, making him a hero in his country (& in other African nations)…

…  You’ll learn how he was helped by his trainer – friend Onni Niskanen (a Swede born in Finland), how he entered the Marathon at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics around a month after having an appendix operation & how he won THAT gold also-- in record time & as the 1st athlete to ever win that race 2 Olympics in a row…

The story tells what happened when he entered the 1968 Olympics race, & how a car accident the next year turned him into a QUADRIPLEGIC…

…  But, Abebe didn’t give up on life:  he kept working to get better, became an archer, & even entered a Norwegian DOG-SLED race (which I didn’t even know existed!)…

…  He & American Jesse Owens were specially honored at the 1972 Munich Olympics (& he died a bit more than a year later)…

…  This is a finely done and moving story of how people can strive & OVERCOME in life.

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