Chariots of Fire is a British historical film and true story of two athelets in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, a British non-religious Jew who runs to overcome prejudice deals. Harold is driven to prove himself by personal success and individual performance. This film deals directly with such issues as athletic competition, the nature of winning and losing, and the central place of ethics in sports. It touches sensitively and powerfully on the longing for perfection, the search for meaning, and the struggle for acceptance.
Both Harold and Abraham seem unbeatable in the running race. They were urged to examine themselves, assess their true potential, seek to discover where their true chance of greatness lies. However, Harold’s fragile self-esteem depends absolutely upon his winning, whereas Eric runs because “God made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure.” There is a scene when Eric’s sister, Jennie bashed and accused Eric of no longer caring about God, Eric tells her that he feels divinely inspired when running, and that not to run would be to dishonour God: “I believe that God made me for a purpose. But He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure. To win is to honour Him.”
Apparently we can notice that the film exhibits an insightful contrast between the two runners. Harold figures that victory does not provide long-lasting fulfillment because, ultimately, there is nothing beyond himself that he feels he can depend upon. Eric on the other hand, has a God-driven purpose and a relationship with His Lord that supplies an unbreakable confidence. He lives a life of godly joy that does not relies on winning or losing, instead it is a joy that is the fruit of a Godly life.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie, especially Eric’s determination not to compromise his beliefs and to always do his things with the glorious name of God. Hence, this movie can somewhat be a good “ice breaker” to get the focus onto the things of God. Chariots of Fire” is one of the movies that really makes one appreciates the value of standing for what he or she believes in. In plain sight, Eric’s stand for his Christian faith plus his love for other opponents is also rarely seen today, even by athletes who claim to be Christian. Therefore, it is a good value to be learnt from this movie – not to treat everyone as the enemy but treat them as sibling with God’s belief, everyone is like a family and it should not be drawn a boundary in between one another. Also, the review of this movie will eventually raise about values in life which will help its audience, especially the children to realize that winning ISN’T everything after all.
Psychology of Film 