Oficiální web Miloše Formana

In 1972 at the Olympic Games in Munich eight famous directors of that time (Milos Forman, Kon Ichikawa, Claude Lelouch, Jurij Ozerov, Arthur Penn, John Schlesinger, Mai Zetterling, Michael Pfleghar, and Jim Clark), were asked to interpret any part of the contests, favorite sport or their personal view of the Games.

Milos Forman’s episode is the longest section, and as the sixth section stands out as one of the most outstanding moments of the film. The episode presents the decathlon as the pinnacle of the Olympic Games. The competitors depicted by Forman become more and more exhausted as unexpected problems arise and the competitors finish the games completely on the edge of their physical limits.

This episode is accompanied by the sound of brass instruments, cowbells, yodeling and even classical music. The musical arrangement culminates with Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”,which in this context is used ironically. For example, shots of an event organizer bored and sleeping in the dedans as well as the movements of his colleagues are presented in grotesque slow motion or accelerated to the highest speed to parallel shots from the Bavarian capital or from the concert hall. Ultimately, all of these images connect the sports competition to a deeper social context.

• “Since I was a child I desired to see the Olympic Games in the flesh. Maybe that was the reason why I started this project – to get the best seat in the stadium and just watch“.
• “The German Athletic Championship was taking place right before the Olympic Games and I went there to do some preparation. Then I realized that the most exhausting, endeavoring and dramatic contest is the decathlon – therefore I chose it as my theme. Almost each event has its own special rhythm which I emphasized with specific music. I also intended to show everything that is connected with this important competition: its organizers, its audience, the boredom, the motionless moments as well as the moments of blasting ecstasy.“
• “The Czech authorities hadn’t allowed Miroslav Ondricek to cooperate with an emigrant, so a Swedish guy, Jorgen Persson, who did the camera for Elvira Madigan and Bo Wirdberger, became my cameraman. I planned the movie to be completely different from the television reportage and Persson had apparently more sense for decadent beauty than for a dry sport report.
• Games were still going on when one day at seven a.m. I was woken up by a phone call. A secretary of our producer called.

  “Do you know it already?”
  “What?”‘
  “You don’t know it?”
  “What do I do not know?”
  “Look out of your window.”

  My room was on the highest floor of the highest building in the Olympic village, so I could see the whole area. There were police cars, ambulances, policemen and soldiers everywhere. The Palestinian terrorists attacked the lodgings of the Israeli sportsmen. In cold blood they had killed two of them, the others were being held as hostages and the terrorists were just negotiating their safe departure from Germany. But they murdered nine more members of the Israeli team before the departure was guaranteed.

  I was standing at the window and observing the horrible event. Only a few yards from the place which was still bloodstained, normal life resumed very quickly – people were playing ping-pong, mini-golf and chess, they were reading their books, arguing with their coaches, drinking lemonade, sunbathing, and staring at girls. They could have seen, heard and felt the results of the bloodbath, but until the Games were over, the athletes didn’t want to be distracted from concentrating on their task – they had been preparing for this moment their whole lives…”