The name Jesse Owens is less well known in the 21st century than it once was. But there was a time when Owens was one of the best-known men in Europe and the USA: he was the fastest man in the world, the winner of 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics. This film (the winner of my personal competition for best Film Title Around At The Moment for its simple but clever pun) tells his story, particularly his rise in US athletics under the tutelage of coach Larry Snyder and, later, the - how can one put it? - difficulties associated with the 1936 Olympics.The film puts together an interesting story, some good performances, and an excellent realisation of time and location - small-town America in the 20s and 30s and contemporary sports arenas (most of which are almost certainly gone now) and the Berlin locations - they are all brought to the screen courtesy of a mixture of actual locations and CGI, the latter of which only really shows in aerial shots.The performances are nearly all good. Stephan James is perhaps a little over-earnest as Owens, but it is a performance of sincerity and honesty. Jeremy Irons as Olympics bigwig Avery Brundage is tripped up by his American accent (again: see also Appaloosa), and Barnaby Metschurat plays Nazi minister Joseph Goebbels like a twilight vampire. But Carice van Houten (a personal favourite) makes quirky filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl interesting and likeable, and Jason Sudeikis as coach Snyder, the first non-comedy role I have seen him in, is very good.The anti-semitism and racism in Nazi Germany is, as expected, clear, but it is also understated and all the more powerful for that. What is less expected, because things have moved on so much in the interim, is the racism in the USA. Owens' success meant that he found favour because of his celebrity, but there is a very effective and sobering coda just before the closing titles roll.I don't always find "worthy" films all that entertaining - the worthiness sometimes overpowers any entertainment value - but this movie fully engaged me throughout its two and a quarter hours.

Rewriting historical facts and twisting them for leftist propaganda purposes, this biased crap would make Jesse Owens rolling in his grave, as he was better treated in Nazi Germany than in the US. Adolf Hitler treated Jesse Owens better than his own President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and that shameful fact is one that CANNOT change no matter how many money are invested into brainwashing people with shitty movies like this and will always be there to haunt the US and leftists worldwide.

My wife and I watched this at home on DVD from our public library. The movie is very well made, entertaining and historically important.When I was a boy growing up in the 1960s I was a rabid track and field fan and, even though it happened in the 1930s I was aware of Jesse Owens and his great times in the dashes, times that are great even today, 80 years later, that is how good he was. But until I saw this movie I never knew his name was "J.C.", for James Cleveland, not Jesse at all, but that is what one teacher though he was saying and the name stuck.The story here is set between about 1933, when Jesse was almost 20 and going off to college at Ohio State and 1936, the year of his Olympic victories in Germany, much to the distress of Hitler and the Nazi regime. The story overall seems to stick pretty closely to the facts, although many things about Jesse Owens in private time had to be invented.Stephan James was about 20 during filming, he is Jesse Owens. He had to undergo quite a lot of training to look like a sprinter and to mimic the particular running style of Owens. He does very well in the part.Usually just a funnyman, Jason Sudeikis is really good as Larry Snyder, the track coach at Ohio State who fine-tuned Owens' running to help him become the world-beater that he was.The 1936 Olympic games are dramatized well here. Overall a very entertaining and historically significant story, very well presented.

It's 1933. Jesse Owens (Stephan James) leaves his home in Cleveland to go to Ohio State. Former track star Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis) is the coach of a losing program. He sees natural talents in Owens and aims to win gold in 1936 Berlin. Owens has a daughter with Ruth Solomon. Meanwhile, the US Olympics Committee is debating boycott supported by Jeremiah Mahoney (William Hurt). They send construction magnate Avery Brundage (Jeremy Irons) to Berlin to meet Leni Riefenstahl (Carice van Houten) and Joseph Goebbels (Barnaby Metschurat).This is a very sincere, functional historical drama. Stephan James does sincere work. There is very limited drama before the games. There are snippets of insights into this track and field world. The best is Snyder talking over the football team in the locker room to demonstrate a hostile crowd. However, I'm not sold on Sudeikis in this dramatic role. He doesn't have the gravitas. He always seem out of place in this role. The first half really holds very little drama or surprises.Jesse Owens' romantic challenges hold little interest. The NAACP and others pushing for boycott adds a little color. The drama seems to come from Luz, Brundage, Riefenstahl, Goebbels, and finally the replacement of Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller. This indicates a better drama not in the biopic of Owens but a drama behind Berlin 36.