Visions of Eight

The summary at the introduction says it all: 'it's not a summary of sports'. This is the kind of production that is willing to rewrite, rather reinvent, the shape of sports docummentaries. Far from the focus on results of the almanac-format production, this new vision of the tension of obsession, of the muscle stress, of the jump of joy, of the tears of defeat and, in short, the beauty of the design sports can provide, brings us the Expressionist angle the Olympics hides in the shadows of the action that TV images will never be able to catch. More than a masterpiece, each of the eight episodes should be treated as a directing class.

If you want a sports documentary filled with numbers and facts, this is not your film. This is an olympics movie made by artists. Rather than delving into the amount of medals a country or person won or what records were broken, Visions of Eight chooses to delve into abstract and personal aspects of the games: the anticipation before they begin, the human form, the effects of losing, the obsession with winning. Visions of Eight serves as an artists interpretation of these concepts with the games serving only as the backdrop to explore those themes. If that sounds like something you'd like, there's no movie better than this one.

The four of the eight directors made fascinating contributions to this portmanteau film. Milos Foman's segment concentrating on the Decathlon event was memorable for its use of Bavarian folk music to blend with the visuals. Mai Zetterling's segment on the Strongest dealt with weightlifting and food for the athletes, which focussed on the athletes' obsession with one sport. Zetterling has always been interested with people's obsessions. Penn's segment on the Highest deals with pole vault and the emotions of losing. Lelouch's segment officially dealt with the losers but I felt Penn captured those emotions better. The fourth impressive segment was Schlesinger's on the Marathon. Three years later he would make "The Marathon Man." Technically, the Ichikawa segment on the 100 meters race was rewarding but not much more.

Eight filmmakers are tasked with capturing the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics. The first seven segments have these filmmakers do their artistic efforts with the games. It's a lot of close-ups and slow-motion. It's not always the most compelling. Some are more interesting visually than others. I'm not expecting a wall-to-wall documentary about the terrorist disruption especially considering the probable involvement of the IOC. John Schlesinger's last segment does tackle the elephant in the room but mostly as the backdrop affecting the marathon runners. The race is delayed and they have to keep their mind on the competition. It's not the biggest swing but the terrorism is too big to ignore. In the end, the film has to stay on course and put the ugliness behind it instead of facing it head-on.

Arguably the greatest Olympic documentary, and one of the classic sports documentaries, this 1973 feature length film is an evocative, impressionistic account of the XXth Summer Olympiad held in Munich, West Germany from 26th August to the 11th September 1972 (with 122 nations competing) as captured on camera by 8 directors in their own unique way. Soviet director Juri Ozerov directs the opening segment titled 'The Beginning' which looks at those moments before the action begins for the 12,000 competitors. 'The Strongest' is directed by Sweden's Mai Zetterling, who is not interested in sport, but is interested in obsessions, and subsequently focuses on the weightlifters (like Vasily Alekseyev and rivals like Terry Perdue), and computerised records, diets and Olympic budgets - 1972 million marks/£257 million. U. S. Director Arthur Penn's segment 'The Highest' opens with blurred shots of pole vaulters, and stunning slow motion shots of them rising and falling, ending with a quivering bar. West German television director Michael Pfleghar's episode 'The Women' is a tribute to the women competing at the Olympic Games, including West Germany's two long jumping Heidis (Rosendahl and Schuller), and the film's most beautiful and moving scene involving the Soviet Union's gymnast Ludmilla Tourischeva on the uneven bars. In 'The Fastest' Japanese director Kon Ichikawa explores the 10 seconds of the men's track and field 100 metres through silence and slow motion. 'The Decathlon' is Czechoslovakian director Milos Forman's at times comical (fast motion, sleeping officials) account of the two day 10 event track and field competition, interspersed with Bavarian folklore music, and silent bursts of action. French director Claude Lelouch's episode 'The Losers' features angry boxers, crashing cyclists, equestrian falls, losers in the pool, and injured wrestlers, in a segment which adds to past joys the spectacle of past sorrows. The final segment 'The Longest' by Britain's director John Schlesinger is the longest and most evocative and arty (complete with black and white flashbacks) as it focuses on Ron Hill in the marathon, interspersed with the Black September events, the hoaxer at the end of the marathon (a West German student called Norbert Sudhaus), David Coleman's voice, and angry officials in green uniforms lashing out at cameras. This documentary is not about results or being comprehensive, so there's no John Akii-Bua, basketball, Olga Korbut, 'Hot Rod' Milburn, or Mary Peters. And the 'artistic competition' between the directors is won by...