‘The Boys in the Boat’ pull together for stellar tale
A notably Spielbergian effort from director George Clooney (“The Tender Bar”), the period sports drama “The Boys in the Boat” is “Chariots of Fire” on the water. The film tells the embellished true story of the World War II-era American rowing team that took on adversaries way out of their league and sought not only to to prevail, but to beat everyone, including Adolf Hitler. Based on the bestselling 2013 non-fiction book by Daniel James Brown, the film kicks off in post-Depression Washington state, where young Joe Rantz (Englishman Callum Turner of “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore”), whose mother died long before and whose father left him on his own at age 14 to seek work elsewhere, has been living in a Seattle shantytown. The ambitious and resourceful Joe also attends the local university, where he tries out for the school’s rowing team.
Passing the Herculean tests to get on the team is only the first hurdle Joe (and we) will face. With membership on the team comes a room with a bed. The university boathouse, labeled A.S.A.W. for Associated Students of the University of Washington, becomes Joe’s church and where he and Coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton) will forge him and other teammates into something brand new. It’s where this poor wretch attempts to transform himself, along with his fellow rowers, into modern-day Greek gods in order to compete against the finest the Third Reich has to offer. If it hadn’t been a true story, someone would have had to make it up. In addition to Ulbrickson, Joe also bonds with the team’s Obi-Wan-like boat builder George Pocock (Peter Guinness), another surrogate father figure.
In the course of events, Joe will create ties with his fellow rowers, who have much more privileged backgrounds than he, and he will be mocked as “Hobo Joe” by one. He will also catch the eye of the golden goddess named Joyce Simdars (Hadley Robinson, “Little Women”).
The practices are hellish. Depleted rowers vomit into Lake Washington. Their hands are covered in blisters. The university’s rich donors want the coach to bring home trophies. When he surprisingly decides to let the junior varsity rowers compete, instead of the varsity team, he is almost removed. Ulbrickson’s wife Hazel (the talented Courtney Henggeler) is his rock. The Washington rowers get a reputation for beating the teams from such “rich” schools as Harvard and Yale. Who are these country clods? One of Joe’s fellow rowers, a shy guy named Don Hume (Jack Mulhern, “Mare of Easttown”) can play a little boogie piano.
Everything, of course, leads up to the day that the University of Washington team takes on Adolf Hitler’s band of super-youth with oars on the Langer See on the outskirts of Berlin. Clooney is right to include an exchange between Rantz and
“THE BOYS IN THE BOAT”
Rated PG-13. At the AMC Boston Common and suburban theaters.. Grade: B+ his fellow rowers and the young Jesse Owens (Jyuddah Jaymes, “Django”) since Owens’ four Gold Medal wins at the 1936 Olympics are what truly blew Hitler’s mind. The film’s Hitler (English actor Daniel Philpott of “The Crown”) schemes to sabotage the U.S. teams who refuse to salute him. The “huskies” end up in the most difficult lane, even though they earned a much better one. It’s like a movie. Get ready for a photo finish.
(“The Boys in the Boat” contains profanity)