Chariots of Fire

Chariots of Fire (1981) is Hugh Hudson's British period drama, available to watch online on iFILM. It draws on the true story of two runners who carried Britain's hopes into the Paris Olympics of the mid-1920s.

The film follows two men cut from opposite cloth. Harold Abrahams, the Cambridge-educated son of a Jewish immigrant, runs partly to throw the casual bigotry of his peers back in their faces. Eric Liddell, a devout Scot raised by missionary parents in China, treats sprinting as an act of faith and won't race on a Sunday — not even with an Olympic place hanging on it. Both roads lead to Paris, where each has to weigh ambition against the things he refuses to give up.

The movie took home four Oscars, the Best Picture prize among them, and Vangelis's electronic theme is recognizable from its opening bars — still piped through stadiums decades later. That slow-motion run along the beach set to it long ago crossed into pop culture. Quiet, restrained, very British filmmaking for anyone who likes stories built on conviction rather than spectacle. Stream Chariots of Fire (1981) online on iFILM.