Chariots of Fire

While Chariots of Fire has been one of Matt's all-time favorite movies for as long as he can remember, I am ashamed to say I had never seen it before now. And I really should have, because I simply love the Olympics. I'm so glad they are staggered now, so we get to watch them every two years! I am always spellbound; when the Olympics are on, don't even bother inviting me over unless you are planning to watch the games.

If you, like me before this week, have never seen the movie, there are three things you should know about it that will encourage you to watch it:

1. We all know the theme song by heart, and I'm sure have been inspired by it. You should know that the whole soundtrack is like that song...with awesome bits of synthesizer thrown in to remind you it was made in the 80s.

2. You will recognize people in it. The running coach is Bilbo Baggins, and one of the main runners was Spock's dad in the newest Star Trek (he was also Barnabas in Dark Shadows, a guilty pleasure of mine from early college).

3. The story-telling is great and doesn't need to rely on false tension and mini-crises at every turn to keep things moving. I kept getting so stressed out thinking that the other shoe was about to drop, being used to modern movies, but Matt kept reminding me it is not an overly tense movie. It is about the race and their reasons for running. It made mention toward the end that if they allowed their reasons to be minimized or compromised, they wouldn't run as well. Pertains to every day life, no?

For those that have seen it, I would bet many don't know why it is called Chariots of Fire. I had never questioned it when I simply heard the music score, but it was really bugging me after the movie finished. I knew Elijah was taken up in a chariot of fire in the Bible, but it just didn't seem to fit the story. Thanks to Wikipedia, I learned that it was inspired by the line, "Bring me my chariot of fire," from the William Blake poem adapted into a controversial yet popular British hymn "Jerusalem"; the hymn is heard at the end of the film (and was also in the Royal wedding of Prince William and Kate, incidentally). The other Bible reference can be found in 2 Kings 6:17. I still don't think it fits all that well.