Running Brave

Over the last 3 classes, our class watched the movie "Running Brave," which focused on the story of Billy Mills, the Native American Indian who won the 10,000m race while representing the United States as a huge underdog at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

I actually enjoyed the movie much more than I thought I would have, considering it's a movie we saw in class (and everyone knows those are usually not too good). The acting wasn't the best, in my opinion, but the messages in the movie are pretty clear. It's easy to see how much discrimination Billy Mills faced as a Native American living in a white world in the 1960s. Similar to the way the offensive n-word is used against African-American citizens today, Billy is clearly offended and angered when a police officer judges him as a trespasser at his own university and refers to him as "chief." At one point, the pressure Billy faces being an outsider in his everyday life brings him to nearly quit on everything. He struggles to find his identity as a Native-American Indian runner living in a white world, facing discrimination and rejection from both the white people he lives with now and the Native Americans he lived with before. However, despite no longer competing for Kansas University, Billy decides to try out for the Olympics as he had originally planned, and marginally manages to earn a spot. His underdog status doesn't inspire much hope in those around him, but he barely seems to be faced by this. Something I really liked about the movie was the fact that, even though I already knew his story and the fact that he had won the climatic event at the end, it kept me in suspense throughout all of the race. Billy Mills wins the gold medal, becoming the first (and, so far, the only) athlete from the western hemisphere to win the gold in this event. He also becomes the second Native American to ever win a gold medal in the Olympics, proving those who thought "they were quitters" wrong.

On a more personal note, as I said before, I had already heard of Billy's story. In elementary school I used to be a bit of a nerdy guy, but I also liked to run, and I was also pretty good at it. I don't quite remember if it was my father or my coach who told me the story of Billy Mills, but one of them did, and I used it as my inspiration to run as best as I could and practice even harder than that. Every practice they reminded me how, with practice and dedication, even the biggest underdog can win. In summary, the movie was very enjoyable, and carried more than its share of inspirational and important messages on never giving up, even when faced with extreme adversity and unfair racial judgments.

Following a classmates' example, I include here a clip from the race the real Billy Mills won.