Throwback Thursday: Movies to watch in honour of Rio Olympics 2016

The Rio Olympics are less than a week away. The International sporting event which will begin on August 5 2016 has 120 athletes who will be competing from India.

The Olympics have always provided great source material for film makers because of stories of underdogs overcoming challenges, sports heroes falling from glory (and rising back up), and teamwork and friendships.

Also add the occasional nexus of political agendas tied to the international sporting event, and it makes for great, thrilling sports movies.

Out of the plethora of Olympic themed movies out there, here’s our pick of movies that revolve around the Olympics which you should watch before the major Rio event:

Olympia (1936)

Olympia, Leni Riefenstahl’s documentary capturing the 1936 Summer Olympics, is a fascinating film in many ways. Not only is it nefarious because it was commissioned by Hitler to further the Nazi propaganda, the movie is also famous because of the excellent camera shots that don’t fail to amaze film makers till date.

The documentary is divided into two parts: Olympia: Festival of the Nations, which is focused on the international aspects of the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin while the second half,  Olympia: The Festival of Beauty is a celebration of the human form. This film focuses on athletes who competed in the 1936 games, ending with Glenn Morris’ performance in the decathlon and the majestic closing ceremonies of the games.

Tokyo Olympiad (1965)

Tokyo Olympiad follows on the heels of Olympia as a Olympic film with a major political agenda. The movie was commissioned by the Japanese government to present a more positive image of Japan to the world after the World War II fiasco.

Like Riefenstahl portrait of the German Olympics, this documentary is considered a milestone in documentary film making, and it concentrates more on the human and emotional side of athletes which is what contribute to the documentary’s success.

Chariots of Fire (1981)

The film focuses on how class and sports intertwine in the UK. Harold Abrahams, a devout Jew, and Eric Liddell, a staunch Christian, are competitors who get a chance to represent Great Britain at the 1924 Olympics in Paris.

The film crosscuts between each man’s life as he trains for the competition, fueled by very different motivations. Based on a true story, this powerful film was greatly appreciated at the Academy Awards: it ended winning Oscars for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score.

Prefontaine (1997) Versus Without Limits (1998)

Both films revolve around the life of Steve Prefontaine, the long distance runner, who died shortly after reaching the peak of his career.

Prefontaine is a straight up biopic starring Jared Leto as the titular hero and is narrated by his assistant coach, Bill Dellinger and his girlfriend.

Without Limits, on the other hand_,_ tells us the story from the viewpoint of Bill Bowerman, his university coach. Though Jared Leto packs a punch in the role of the long distance runner in Prefontaine (1997); Without Limits (1998) is the more inspirational sports movie.

Munich (2005)

This Spielberg film carefully blends truth with fiction as it revolves around the Israeli government’s secret mission against the Black September terrorist group responsible for the Munich Massacre.

In the Munich Massacre at the 1972 Olympics, Palestinian terrorists held 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage, which led to a botched rescue attempt and the murder of the surviving athletes (2 were already killed) by the terrorists.

The film highlights how the political image of a country and the Olympics go hand in hand.

Mary Kom (2014)

Mary Kom is a sports film directed by Omung Kumar and produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The film stars Priyanka Chopra in the lead role of the titular boxer and depicts her journey of becoming a boxer to her victory at the 2008 World Boxing Championships in Ningbo. Priyanka Chopra’s portrayal of Mary Kom has fetched her many awards.

Though Mary Kom has been denied a wild card entry into the Rio Olympics , she remains the iconic face of boxing till date.