Sports: movies to watch during confinement

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After the documentaries to be seen and the works to be read, the RFI sports department offers internet users a selection of films to watch during confinement.

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Annie Gasnier recommends LES CHARIOTS DE FEU (1981)

A film opening that has become cult, punctuated by music by Vangelis that has become just as cult! Here we follow all the preparation, true but "glamourized", of two British athletes crowned at the Olympic Games of 1924. One will take down the gold by running the 100 m, the other will win it over 400 m, after years of training, and according to the methods of that time, far from those of Usain Bolt. The time of Olympic sport still amateur. The contrasts are neat between romantic slow motion and frantic races on suitable tracks or in the mud. First adversaries, Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddel ran for different motivations, in a kingdom with traditions still visible, like these famous colleges, cradles of current sports, and athletes of a colonial empire still powerful. A film whose theme is not only athletic, crowned with 4 Oscars.

"Chariots of Fire" trailer

Antoine Grognet recommends RUSH (2013)

Neither of them is still there to talk about it. But the fight for the title of the 1976 Formula 1 season between James Hunt (who died in 1993) and Niki Lauda (who left us in 2019) has become legendary. Between Lauda, ​​the demanding Austrian, perfectionist and sometimes detestable, and Hunt, the charismatic English, talented and a little casual, it is a story of opposites. And if the film has some small faults, the director Ron Howard reconstructs, with great shots of special effects, this year 1976 when Lauda almost lost his life in an accident and returned to the circuits barely a few weeks later to defend his title.

"Rush" Trailer

David Kalfa recommends HE GOT GAME (1998)

American director Spike Lee is known to have a consuming passion: basketball. Also, when he makes a film on this sport, we can expect an ambitious work.

This is the case of He Got Game , with Dentzel Washington. Hollywood star plays Jake Shuttlesworth, a father temporarily released from prison to convince his son, Jesus (played by basketball player Ray Allen), considered a future superstar, to commit to the local university. Problem: Jake killed (involuntarily) his ex-wife and mother of Jesus…

Even if this drama has aged a bit, it's always a pleasure to see Ray Allen as a young actor and listen to the soundtrack signed by the rap group Public Enemy.

"He Got Game" Trailer

Thomas Moulin recommends LE STRATÈGE (2011)

No need to appreciate baseball to vibrate in front of Le Stratège . Adapted from the best-seller of Michael Lewis, this film traces the arrival of Billy Beane at the head of the Oakland Athletics, a major league franchise in great financial difficulty. Incarnated on screen by Brad Pitt, the new general manager of A's relies on one of his assistants to develop a statistical approach to baseball, sabermetry.

Despite a very limited budget, they will succeed in building a competitive team, by recruiting undercut players, to compete with the major teams in the League. These methods influenced a change of mentality in the world of baseball, before gradually spreading to other disciplines. An essential film to understand the development of statistics in contemporary sport.

Trailer "The strategist"

Olivier Pron recommends COUP DE TÊTE (1979)

Second film in the career of French director Jean-Jacques Annaud (Oscar winner the year before for Victory while singing), Coup de tête is undoubtedly one of the best films dealing with football. It is a satire of the small regional football clubs of the time (1970s) owned by a local industrialist who plays his workers. In particular the hero of the film despite himself: François Perrin (played by the excellent Patrick Dewaere) wrongly accused of rape committed by the star of the team.

During a trip to an important Coupe de France match, the coach of “Trincamp” players had an accident. There were a few injured, and only 10 able-bodied players to compete in the game. Thanks to the influence of the club president, Perrin is released from prison. He plays and scores the two victory goals, becoming the hero of the city. No more question of putting him back in prison, he will take the opportunity to take revenge on those who had condemned him before worshiping him.

Effective staging, humor and ferocious dialogues like this cult phrase from the club president: " I maintain 11 imbeciles to calm down 800 who are only waiting for an opportunity to get agitated !" "Coup de tête is a brilliant criticism of the football world at the time, and of the political shenanigans that sportspeople suffered (still suffer ?!) on the way to glory. A squeaky charge in which appears the AJ Auxerre team (then in the second division). Patrick Dewaere was also advised during filming by the legendary coach of this club: Guy Roux.

Trailer "Headbutt"

Thomas de Saint-Léger recommends LE VÉLO DE GHISLAIN LAMBERT (2001)

Ready for anything but good for nothing, Ghislain Lambert has a dream: to rub shoulders with the “Cannibal” of cycling, the legendary Eddy Merckx. Problem: if they were born on the same day, the two men did not inherit the same physical qualities. While Merckx is investigating victories and records, Lambert plays the container carriers, anonymous among the anonymous of the peloton. Until the day when the Tour de France offers him an unexpected exhibition…

If you miss the atmosphere of the Belgian classics, this film carried by the duo Benoît Poelvoorde-José Garcia is an excellent remedy. Often funny, sometimes creaky, the director Philippe Harel offers a gallery of colorful characters and a tasty painting of the cycling environment of the 1970s, shenanigans and low blows included!

Trailer "Ghislain Lambert's bike"

Alejandro Valente recommends MESSI, LA PELICULA (2014)

A film directed by Alex de la Iglesia, a renowned Spanish director, and produced by Jaume Roures, the boss of Mediapro, the company that acquired the rights to the French Championship from next season. It was produced in 2014, when Messi was 27 years old. It is true that not mastering Spanish does not allow you to benefit from the exchanges between the many people who have known him throughout his career, gathered in a bar. But the film is obviously very rich also in archive images which show, or try to show, how this little kid from Rosario became the best player in the world. Sometimes tasty exchanges, like this reflection by Javier Mascherano, the bright eye, who would have dreamed of living even just five seconds in Messi's skin, just to know what it is to be Messi.

Trailer "Messi, la pelicula"

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