Endurance [VHS]

Endurance [VHS]
by Bud Greenspan, Leslie Woodhead

Endurance [VHS]

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Product details

Actor: Bekele Gebrselassie, Haile Gebrsellasie, Shawananness Gebrselassie, Tedesse Haile, Yonas Zergaw
Director: Bud Greenspan, Leslie Woodhead
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
Running Time: 83 minutes
Release Date: 2000-11-07
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Publisher: Walt Disney Video
Studio: Walt Disney Video

VHS Movie Reviews of Endurance [VHS]

Movie Review: Please hurry up and release the DVD!
Summary: 5 Stars

Please release this great movie on DVD. I look foward to replacing my VHS tape. Thanks.

Movie Review: Beautiful and inspiring...!
Summary: 5 Stars

This is a movie I would recommend for people who like to think about life, and how dreams and determination can help improve a person's situation... Not recommended at all for people who want adrenaline rushes, unexpected twists, violence, or sex.

I am a runner myself, and can see why some other runners who reviewed this film were disappointed in not seeing a lot more running by one of the greatest runners of all time.

However, the movie makes up for its shortcomings with great filming of ethiopian scenery, capturing the essence of how many ethiopians face life there, and all accompanied by beautiful, soothing, inspiring music.

What is a crime, is that this is not available on DVD...!!! The DVD version could actually include the whole 10,000 meter race at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, which was not televised in the USA (no US runners, I suppose?), but is widely regarded by the rest of the world as one of the most exciting races ever seen at any Olympics event...!

In any shape or form, I would love to own this on DVD. Any additional interviews, or footage of races, of course, would be extremely welcome...!

PLEASE, PLEASE, release this on DVD...!

Movie Review: three minutes
Summary: 4 Stars

There is not much here. You learn a little bit about how Gebrselassie became a runner, and a little bit about life in Ethiopia. But the pace of the movie is so very, very slow, you get only the most vague, broad ideas. It is disappointing to be given only a glimpse, not something more substantial -- the vast majority of the 83 minute running time is simply wasted. If you are interested in Gebrselassie's races, you will also be disappointed. There are snippets from one of his Olympic 10,000 meters races, but they probably add up to less than a minute; and there is nothing whatsoever about any of his other races.

Why, then, did I give this movie 4 stars, when it's so empty? Why not the 2 stars that most of it deserves?

Because for three minutes, during the opening credits, you actually get to see Gebrselassie run.

And it is AWESOME.

Movie Review: one of the greatest, most original films ever made
Summary: 5 Stars

This film is an original, not a documentary, not a drama, but a completely one off mix of the two, the moving, thrilling tale of Haile Gebresalassie, Ethiopia's greatest runner. It tells tells the story of his life, his childhood in Ethiopia and his stunning career as an athelete. Gorgeous film of Ethiopia, heart-stopping footage of the Olympics. Not to be missed.

Movie Review: good "wide world" movie for kids; so-so for runners...
Summary: 3 Stars

Haile Gebrselassie is indeed a worthy subject for a docudrama: not only one of the world's all-time greatest distance runners but an amazingly likeable, soulful man to boot. On balance I'm glad I saw this movie--but not delighted to have purchased it, if that apparent paradox makes any sense.

If you, like me, are a runner in search of inspiration, then the opening sequence is worth the price of admission: one uncut take of about three or four minutes in which the camera, apparently in a car, follows Geb as he flows gazelle-like along a dusty roadside path at 5:00 pace, up hill and down dale, stride now shortening imperceptibly and now lengthening: as natural as running gets and as inspiring as any running footage I've ever seen. This is the way running was meant to be. The Platonic ideal.

The problem is the remainder of the movie. With the exception of several short extracts from his 1996 Atlanta Olympics appearance, ENDURANCE is a very slowly paced and sometimes quite weird/funny docudrama in which the youthful Geb (played by a boy actor) and the slightly older pre-Olympics Geb (played by Geb acting "youthful," ingenuous, naive) comes of age in rural Ethiopia. It does indeed, as another reviewer points out, give you a good sense of what life in rural Ethiopia is all about--or at least I'm willing to stipulate that it does, never having been to the country myself. It does a pretty fair job of touching all the bases that you'd expect a low-budget docudrama to touch. If I had a boy who I was hoping to entice to become a runner, this would be a great Christmas gift--but only if that boy had an attention span willing to be hijacked into a much more relaxed narrative pace than our own video-gamed world.

On the other hand, if you, like me, wanted the Ethiopian version of PRE or PREFONTAINE, you'll be wildly inspired by the first four minutes and irritated by the rest; the only part of the video you'll find yourself revisiting are those first few minutes.

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Summary of Endurance [VHS]

Here's the triumphant, true-life story of an Olympic hero ... and just how far he came in order to become the fastest Olympic long-distance runner the world has ever seen! Raised under oppressive conditions in one of the world's poorest countries, the Ethiopian boy named Haile Gebrselassie was born to run! When he wasn't laboring in his father's fields, young Haile would be running: the six miles to school and back, while doing chores, or simply for pleasure at the end of a long, hard day! In an inspirational and artfully crafted motion picture from heralded filmmaker Leslie Woodhead, the climactic moment comes as the unstoppable Haile chases down his lifelong dream in a stirring Gold Medal performance at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games!

This film about Ethiopian distance runner Haile Gebrsellasie, who won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and is considered one of the greatest runners of all time, is a dramatization that often appears to be a documentary. Beautifully photographed, the footage shot in Haile's native land is often spectacular enough to make you think you're watching a National Geographic special. Haile's young life, such as a scene when his family is listening to a news report about warfare in Ethiopia and a report comes on about the 1980 Olympics, is portrayed with apparent accuracy, but not without a great deal of drama. There are many scenes of Haile running, past wildlife in the countryside or through crowded city slums, and while this gives what must be an accurate idea of him developing his athletic regimen, this is also not terribly dramatic on camera. Eventually, Haile is shown racing in Atlanta, valiantly overtaking all competition; his family back in Ethiopia is shown gathered around a television set, jubilantly watching his triumph. And while there's no denying that this is a touching and inspiring human story, the slow pace of the presentation tends to work against the inherent drama. --Robert J. McNamara

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