Interwar · Film · 2016
Race
Ohio State sprinter Jesse Owens must decide whether to run in Hitler's Olympics, then take on the world's best athletes in the heart of Nazi Berlin.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 3 places.
Stop 1: Ohio State University, Columbus
The first in his family to go to college, Owens meets coach Larry Snyder, who sees an Olympic champion in the raw sprinter.
Stop 2: Olympic Stadium, Berlin
Key location
In the regime's showcase stadium, Owens races under the eyes of the Nazi leadership and finds an unexpected friend in his German rival.
Stop 3: Waldorf-Astoria, New York
Back home a hero, Owens arrives at a banquet in his own honour and is told to use the service entrance.
What really happened
Jesse Owens, the grandson of enslaved people, became a national star at Ohio State when he set three world records and tied a fourth in about 45 minutes at Ann Arbor on 25 May 1935. The United States debated boycotting the 1936 Berlin Olympics over Nazi racial policy, but Avery Brundage of the American Olympic Committee pushed hard for participation.
In Berlin Owens won four gold medals: the 100 m, the long jump, the 200 m and the 4 x 100 m relay, and the German long jumper Luz Long publicly befriended him. The film compresses his college years and dramatises Brundage's dealings with the regime; the late replacement of the Jewish sprinters Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller in the relay is historical. At home Owens still faced segregation, and President Roosevelt never congratulated him.
Where to watch
Checking streaming services…
Full details
- Original title
- Race
- Directed by
- Stephen Hopkins
- Countries
- Canada, Germany, France
- Languages
- English, German
- Released
- 2016
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- The Americas, Western Europe
- Themes
- Biography
- True story
- Politics
