Movie Review: Without Limits

When was the last time you were truly inspired? Well, buckle up because without limits is a moving and inspirational movie which is based on a true story. It breaks the mold of many a sporting movie to bring you traditional tale of courage and wills in the form of a touching human interest story about one of the most extraordinary distance runners of our time.

Initially skeptical, I first saw this movie with a group of my speed skating buddies in the time-honoured pizza and video method. I wondered how one could possibly make a movie about distance running exciting, rather like the usual response to speed skating – “what, so you skate around in circles?”. The story telling is very clever and the plot follows two relationships throughout the movie. The first is that between Steve Prefontaine (the main protagonist) and super-coach Bill Bowerman, the second is between Steve and love-interest Mary Marx.

The film starts with a sequence of spliced footage from the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Some of it is historic and some of it is shot in the studio. Donald Sutherland’s cool, deep voice rings in with “Citius, Altius, Fortius – Faster, Higher, Stronger” which he explains as the standards to which Prefontaine holds himself. The film focuses on the theme of beliefs, in particular belief in oneself. From the very start of the film, right through to its tragic end, the viewer is left in no doubt that Pre’s belief in himself is his main driving force. Throughout the film, the conflict between Bowerman and Prefontaine, between one’s belief in talent and the other’s belief in will and between the importance of the end result and the importance of the method used to obtain it are highlighted and emphasized through the race sequences.

The race sequences are brilliant examples of the filmmaker’s craft. I have seen many films where races seem to drag on and even seem boring. This is not one of those films. The pace and timing of the shots, the camera angles and the sound all contribute to making each of the races literally edge-of-your-seat affairs. Often the coach’s comments and conversation with the timekeepers can be heard interwoven with the race commentator’s and the interaction between the two is often quite amusing. Particularly memorable is the Olympic qualifying race in which Pre runs against George Young. During this race, Bowerman’s pre-race instructions can be heard, and their being carried out is synchronized on screen. Never before in my life have I had the urge to go distance running after watching a movie, such was the effectiveness of the race sequences.

In the sequences where Pre courts Mary Marx, we are given valuable insights into the kind of person Pre is. Quite apart from his attitude towards closing the deal, so to speak, where female company is concerned, he finds a common chord with Mary in that she believes very strongly in God and Pre believes very strongly in himself. The fact that Mary, like his aspirations at the Olympic Games, is more difficult to “achieve” also interests him and a strong relationships between the two forms through which we hear much of Pre’s exposition about life, love and the AAU (Amateur Athletics Union). Towards the end of the film, she plays a pivotal role in getting Pre back on his feet after a disappointing performance at the Munich Olympics.

Perhaps one should approach this movie with no knowledge of the history behind it. However, even though I knew what was going to happen throughout most of the film, there was no point in it where I felt it was predictable. Even in the Olympic footage, when I knew Pre was going to come fourth, I found myself holding my breath when he made his attack on the Finnish guy in the Munich Olympics 5000m. An inspirational movie, and not only for those of us who are sportspeople (though, admittedly it will probably have more appeal). Billy Crudup bears a scary resemblance to the real Pre and Donald Sutherland’s screen presence surely echoes that which a coach like Bowerman must’ve had. The music is standard sports movie trumpets and bugles which echo the themes of the Olympic fanfare, although slightly boring, it adds a certain timeless element to the movie.

It inspired me, it may not inspire you... but I'm the one writing this review, not you.

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