"First" Take for Olympics Filmmaker

(ATR) For the official film of the London 2012 Olympics, the title "First" fits in more ways than one.

The documentary, which hit DVD and Blu-Ray back in November but enjoyed its U.S. theater debut with a nationwide screening May 30, follows a dozen first-time Olympians in the weeks before and during the Games.

The title can also refer to Caroline Rowland, who directs her first Olympics film following the death of Games legend Bud Greenspan just 10 months after Vancouver 2010.

"I didn’t want to compete," she says in a recent interview with Around the Rings. "It would be pointless."

Indeed, where Greenspan used his trademark monotone to narrate the triumphs and tribulations of Olympians for the better part of three decades, Rowland lets her athletes do the talking.

In less than two hours, she tells the stories of Missy Franklin (swimming, USA); John Orozco (artistic gymnastics, USA); Queen Underwood (boxing, USA); Caroline Buchanan (BMX, Australia); Chad le Clos (swimming, South Africa); David Rudisha (athletics, Kenya); Katie Taylor (boxing, Ireland); Laura Trott (track cycling, Great Britain); Christophe Lemaitre (athletics, France); Majlinda Kelmendi (judo, Albania); Heena Sidhu (shooting, India); and Qiu Bo (diving, China).

Of the dozen, there are seven women compared to five men, and all five continents are represented.

According to Rowland, neither is an accident, though six winning medals and six not is "absolutely blind luck," she tells ATR.

Where she succeeds her first time through is in getting close to these Olympians, especially impressive given the circumstances.

These are world-class athletes right before the biggest moments of their lives, and the sense is Rowland genuinely gets to know them despite her limited access.

Franklin is bubbly, Rudisha reserved and Trott just a tad bit cocky.

But it’s Orozco and le Clos who are the real stars of Rowland’s show, the former for his heartbreak on the pommel horse and the latter for his elation after edging childhood rival Michael Phelps in the 200m butterfly by just .05 seconds.

Other than Buchanan’s slow start in the BMX final and Trott’s takedown of U.S. favorite Sarah Hammer in the omnium finale, however, these are the only real examples of in-event drama throughout the film.

Too much of the story is told outside the field of play with slow-motion, out-of-focus or otherwise stylized shots that fail to convey the look and feel of the Games.

The opening ceremony montage, in particular, captures neither the scale nor the sensory overload of the experience, not until Sebastian Coe’s unmistakable accent is heard just as the cauldron gets lit.

"There is a truth to sport," says the LOCOG chairman, "a purity, a drama, an intensity, a spirit that makes it irresistible to take part in and irresistible to watch."

Rowland’s treatment of the Olympics isn’t irresistible quite yet, but London is, after all, her first time through.

Reviewed by Matthew Grayson

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