{"id":7592,"date":"2010-02-20T15:38:43","date_gmt":"2010-02-20T23:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=7592"},"modified":"2010-02-20T16:53:06","modified_gmt":"2010-02-21T00:53:06","slug":"atletu-the-athlete-davey-frankel-rasselas-lakew-2009-ethiopiausagermany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=7592","title":{"rendered":"Atletu\/ The Athlete (Davey Frankel\/ Rasselas Lakew: 2009): Ethiopia\/USA\/Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Lava Farmer<\/a>.\u00a0 Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Athlete<\/a> is the touching story of Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila(Rasselas Lakew<\/a>).\u00a0 Made famous for winning Olympic gold while running barefoot through the streets of Rome in 1960.\u00a0 He was the first African athlete in history to take Olympic gold, and then went on to win again at the next Olympics in Japan.\u00a0 However, after a loss in Mexico City Bikila must train himself physically and mentally if he is to make it to his final race in Munich for the 1972 Olympics.<\/p>\n

Filmmakers Davey Frankel<\/a> and Rasselas Lakew<\/a> take us on a heartwarming and breathtaking journey through the life of Abebe Bikila through the use of reenactment mixed with real historical footage.\u00a0 As Bikila trains for his last big race we learn about his past as flashbacks show us the actual footage from several of his most famous races. \u00a0 \u00a0The old footage of Bikila running is beautifully crosscut with Lakew’s running to give a powerful and dramatic intensity to his ability.<\/p>\n

He inspired his not only his nation, but a whole continent as well.\u00a0 Throughout his country people admire him for proving to the world that a true champion can come from anywhere.\u00a0 However, Bikila still feels an overwhelming desire to prove to himself what a champion is.\u00a0 When runs into a blind horse on the road, he opts not to put it out of it\u2019s misery and instead leaves it to live on another day.\u00a0 The horse seems to remind him of how one must always persevere and move forward.\u00a0 His previous wins inspired his people, but a victory in Germany will be to prove to himself that anything is possible.<\/p>\n

A car accident during his training, however, leaves him bound to a wheelchair with no movement in his legs.\u00a0 The loss of his legs seems like the end of the world for Bikila, but somehow he maintains his faith that someday he will still make his appointment in Munich.\u00a0 He perseveres and refuses to succumb to his disability and eventually becomes an archer competing in the Paralympics.<\/p>\n

For his final race he competes in a handicapped dogsled race in Norway that gives him the confidence and closure he\u2019s been searching for.\u00a0 On returning to his homeland of Ethopia he shows a short movie of the highlights of his racing career spanning from his first win in Rome, to his final victory in Norway.\u00a0 The faces of his countrymen reveal the pride they have for Bikila.\u00a0 Even the Prime Minister looks touched and inspired.<\/p>\n

The Athlete is a visually gorgeous look at the beautiful country of Ethiopia and the champion that ran for the sake of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Lava Farmer.\u00a0 Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival. The Athlete is the touching story of Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila(Rasselas Lakew).\u00a0 Made famous for winning Olympic gold while running barefoot through the streets of Rome in 1960.\u00a0 He was the first African athlete in history to take Olympic gold, and then went […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":736,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,131],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/736"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}