Rowing on the Big Screen in "Heart of Champions"
Nich Lee Parker
Head Coach of Rowing, Lightweight Men at Columbia University. Doctor of Neuroscience & Motor Control.
“Heart of Champions” opens on Friday, October 29 in theaters around the country. The film follows a collegiate rowing team and their new coach, played by Michael Shannon, as they work to redeem the previous year's disastrous loss and win the national championship. RowNewYork hosted an early screening at the Tribeca Screening Room, followed by a Q&A from director Michael Mailer.
If you have rowed and raced seriously, rowing for the masses as it is portrayed in this film feels the same way I imagine a Sunday 5k run feels for Usain Bolt. It has all the right elements, but it’s not the same. That’s ok. It’s time to accept that rowing can be different things to different people. The same way that a weekend recreational softball league is not MLB.?
Set in 1999, it can be tempting to forget that the “real” rowing world was equally or less diverse than this film made it out to be. Michael Shannon’s Coach Jack Murphy has a measured voice that espouses inclusive values throughout the film. It was therefore great to hear in the post-screening Q&A that Mailer made deliberate choices to include diverse actors and perspectives when he had the opportunity (Yes Ash Santos!) Mailer's decision shows genuine respect for rowing's inherent values that are especially present in collegiate and high school teams. Is the cast as diverse as the sport wants to be? No. Is it a step in the right direction? Yes.?
What the film gets right about why we row:
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As a final observation, filming rowing is really hard. Mailer emphasized this point more than once and I couldn’t agree more. The challenges we experienced when filming “The Boathouse” were immense, and we didn’t have a 20 day window in which to complete the entire project. However, Michael Shannon delivers as a coach who genuinely believes in the values of the sport and Mailer found a way to film the sport more intimately than ever before.?
Overall, this film is a win for rowing even as it shows we still have a lot of growing up to do.
All round STEM type, trying out new cultural and arts gigs
3 年Crew/rowing was the one sport I wish I could have stayed on top of and participating in after I left Columbia ... but it's hard to find participatory crew teams except in college: you need access to either a lake, or an inlet where the water is quite still as it takes little wave action to break over the gunnels and swamp the boat... That's why rowing for Columbia on the East River was such a blast! It wasn't calm when the winds blow and: We'd have to stop paddling every time the Circle Liner Tour Boat passed by, generating up to 3 foot high wake crests, and we'd get the skull parallel to the wave fronts, to bob up and down with the wake ... was awesome!
Associate, Real Estate Portfolio Management
3 年This is great. The part that resonated with me most is that values DO, indeed, matter for cultivating a culture with unyielding trust. Thanks for sharing.
Publisher, PiercePress.com. Podcast producer, Ready, Row! USA, Face The Book TV, Peeragogy In Action. Board, IPNE.org
3 年We had a fun conversation with the rowing coach for the movie, Linda Muri (she/her) on the livestream & audio podcast this week. Catch the replay at https://readyrowusa.com/linda-muri-goes-to-hollywood-ish - she gave us a fascinating behind the scenes perspective.
Enterprise Sales Manager at CloudShare
3 年Great post! And for the 39 likes and counting, I imagine every one of you is a rower. Here's another recc- Documentary from '98-99 that is Cal Men's rowing-centric but a great watch: https://www.allforonemovie.com/xreviews.htm
Award-Winning Event and Experience Planner
3 年Can’t wait to see it! Go SU Women’s rowing.