Race Dvd

Race is a 2016 biographical sports drama film about African-American athlete Jesse Owens, who won a record-breaking four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. Directed by Stephen Hopkins and written by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse, the film stars Stephan James as Owens, and co-stars Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, William Hurt and Carice van Houten. It is a co-production of Canada, Germany and France.

Principal photography began on 24 July 2014, in Montreal, Canada. Forecast Pictures, Solofilms, and Trinity Race produced the film, supported by the Owens family, the Jesse Owens Foundation, the Jesse Owens Trust and the Luminary Group. It won four Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Actor for James.

Plot

Jesse Owens, a promising black American runner, attends Ohio State University, despite facing racial discrimination and slurs from the white athletes. He attracts the attention of coach Larry Snyder, who believes Owens has enormous potential but needs work on his form and technique. When Snyder suggests he is good enough to compete at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, Owens is interested, but hesitant because of racial propaganda in Nazi Germany. The U.S. Olympic Committee is already considering boycotting the Olympics over Germany’s discriminatory policies, only agreeing to participate when Nazi official Joseph Goebbels gives personal assurances they will allow foreign athletes of any race to compete, as well as promising to rein in their propaganda.

As Owens struggles to support his girlfriend Ruth and young daughter, he takes a job at a service station, upsetting Snyder when his job conflicts with his commitment to train. When Snyder learns Owens has a family to support, he gets him a no-show job, allowing him to focus on running. Owens goes on to break several records, including some of Snyder’s, and begins a relationship with a woman whose attentions he attracts with his newfound fame. When Ruth threatens him with a lawsuit, Owens becomes distracted and loses a race to runner Eulace Peacock. Owens decides to return to Ruth to reconcile, convincing her to marry him. As the Olympics draw closer, the NAACP asks him not to go to Berlin for political reasons. Owens is conflicted, but Peacock urges him to compete to defy Nazi racial ideology.

In Berlin, Owens wins his first gold medal in the 100 m dash, but when he is brought by International Olympic Committee member Avery Brundage to receive congratulations from Adolf Hitler, he is told the Chancellor has left the stadium early to avoid traffic.

Brundage warns Goebbels that Hitler must congratulate all winners or no winners, with Goebbels replying Hitler will not appear with “that”.

Owens next qualifies for the broad jump after German rival Luz Long unexpectedly gives him tips on his technique. Owens wins another medal, and Luz publicly shakes his hand and joins him for a victory lap, privately expressing concern about national politics. Owens wins his fourth and final medal in the 4 x 100 m relay, filling in for two Jewish American athletes cut by Brundage, who is convinced by Goebbels to do so to avoid a scandal over a business arrangement Brundage entered with the Nazis before the games. Director Leni Riefenstahl films the event against Goebbels’ orders, then asks Owens to repeat his medal-winning broad jump to get a few more shots for her next film, Olympia.

Cast

Stephan James as Jesse Owens
Jason Sudeikis as Larry Snyder
Jeremy Irons as Avery Brundage
Carice van Houten as Leni Riefenstahl
William Hurt as Jeremiah Mahoney
Shanice Banton as Ruth Solomon-Owens
Amanda Crew as Peggy
Jeremy Ferdman as Marty Glickman
Barnaby Metschurat as Joseph Goebbels
Chantel Riley as Quincella
David Kross as Carl “Luz” Long
Glynn Turman as Harry Davis
Jonathan Aris as Arthur Lill
Shamier Anderson as Eulace Peacock
Tony Curran as Lawson Robertson
Nicholas Woodeson as Fred Rubien
Giacomo Gianniotti as Sam Stoller
Eli Goree as Dave Albritton
Anthony Sherwood as Rev. Ernest Hall
Jon McLaren as Trent
Tim McInnerny as General Charles
Vlasta Vrána as St. John
Adrian Zwicker as Adolf Hitler
Jonathan Higgins as Dean Cromwell
Karl Graboshas as Adolf Dassler
Arthur Holden as Rudolf Dassler
Anian Zollner as Hans von Tschammer