Spirit of the Marathon
List Price:
Our Price: $7.43
You Save: $20.54 (73%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Deena Kastor, Frank ShorterBrand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 104 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-10-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Image Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Spirit of the Marathon
DVD Review: great but problematic
Summary: 4 Stars
The best part of this film, from my perspective, is the opening five minutes. This is the sequence that shows up on YouTube and that led me to purchase the film. It offers a condensed and thrilling vision of the marathon as a field of epic endeavor on the part of elite athletes: Abebe Bikila, Frank Shorter, and the rest. The vintage footage looks marvelous. The editing is superb.
This opening sequence is false advertising. The film itself quickly trades in the epic for the everyday: the story of the 2005 Chicago Marathon told through up-close-and-personal documentary narratives of a half dozen runners, two of whom (a Kenyan runner and Deena Kastor) are elites, but the rest of whom are average Joes and Janes. I get it: the midpackers and back-of-the-packers deserve our attention, too. They, too, partake of the marathon's epic soul-voyage, whether they're seeking to qualify for Boston or waddling at 12-minute pace. The film also seeks to show that the elites and the Others share certain preoccupations (nagging injuries, focus on goals). The film does this with some success.
What the film also shows us, perhaps more than it means to, is that the everyday of the Other Runners is filled with...stuff. The peevish whining of the injured husband crushed at the fact that injury will prevent him from joining his wife in this year's race. The tears of the inadequately prepared and slightly overweight woman who walks much of the final miles, experiencing the agony of almost-defeat and the transcendence of She Who Just Won't Stop as she crosses the finish line. The manifold fleeting narcissistic preoccupations that fill the days of all distance runners. Most of us know them well. Are they the stuff of a great movie? That's the question.
This film does some things wonderfully. The cinematography is brilliant. The editing is superb. The sequence in which we follow the Kenyan runner through HIS everyday back in Kenya is inspired and revealing. One of the Other Runners, Lori, has a face that gleams with spiritual energy: her story is inspiring (and her running technique ain't bad). The talking heads (Joe Henderson, Amby Burfoot, Katherine Switzer, and especially the eloquent Roger Robinson) are chosen with care. The photo montage through which Switzer's pioneering run at Boston many years ago was almost derailed by Jock Semple's hands-on approach was terrific--and inspiring.
Still, for those, like me, who expected a focus primarily on the elites, there was something lacking. There was, needless to say, no post-race interview with the Kenyan guy who failed, after many second- and third-place finishes, to win the race. We got more than enough of the Other Runners. The marathon is indeed an epic thing, and the spirit of it should be celebrated. If you're a non-runner who is thinking about lacing up some shoes and trying a marathon, this IS the movie for you. If you're one of John Bingham's "penguins," somebody who celebrates the back-of-the-pack and especially the challenges of running a marathon with marginally adequate preparation and suffering through the final miles before achieving your moment of epic transcendence at six-and-a-half hours, this IS the movie for you.
But if you're somebody who would have liked to know a little more about Bikila, or Shorter, or how the race actually felt at the front of the pack--well, you may want to think twice before pressing the "buy now" button.
Description of Spirit of the Marathon
SPIRIT OF THE MARATHON - DVD MovieBestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Fire on the Track: The Steve Prefontaine StoryRelease date: 1995-06-30; DVD
Best price: $16.98
Price in other shops:
Marathon ChallengeWgbh Wholesale; Release date: 2008-02-11; DVD
Best price: $9.87
Price in other shops:
The Long RunUNI DIST CORP. (MCA); Release date: 2004-06-01; DVD
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops:
Hood To Coast 2-Disc Special Edition DVDPublished: 2011; DVD
Best price: $21.95
Running BraveTrinity; Release date: 2005-05-31; DVD
Best price: $3.36
Price in other shops:
PrefontaineTeam Marketing; Release date: 2002-09-03; Published: 2002-09-01; DVD
Best price: $4.31
Price in other shops:
Run for Your LifeVas Entertainment; Release date: 2008-10-28; DVD
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops:
Chariots of FireWarner Brothers; Release date: 2011-01-04; DVD
Best price: $4.75
Price in other shops:
Without LimitsTeam Marketing; Release date: 1999-02-16; DVD
Best price: $8.96
Price in other shops:
Ultramarathon Man: 50 Marathons - 50 States - 50 DaysDVD; Release date: 2009-02-10; DVD
Best price: $14.77
Price in other shops: