The Athlete – 5

A noble effort to tell the important story of a great African athlete, Abebe Bikila. The exciting parts, however, came from archival footage of his two Olympic victories. The movie’s focus, instead, seemed to be on his efforts to compete, after a car accident as a paraplegic, as an archer and dog-sled racer – neither of much drama or import. Shots of Ethiopia were beautiful and welcome, and the director explained some of the symbolism he used, which raced right by me. [SBIFF]