Olympia (review)

Badikian | Olympia Beatriz Badikian Roosevelt University - Chicago Badgart@aol.com Olympia King Tornato Productions, 1997. Bob Byington, Director. Running Time: 80 min. Olympia is not your traditional Mexican woman: selfsacrificing , domestic, submissive, weak. Although often throughout the narrative she must follow the dictates of the males around her, she ultimately triumphs: her dream of going to the Olympics and throwing the javelin for her country , Mexico, is realized. The trope of the border is embodied in the eponymous film directed by Bob Byington and wonderfully acted by Carmen Nogales in the title role. Olympia wants to be an athlete, to throw the javelin. She has a coach, Ed, but an accident renders her unable to train and her coach becomes her manager, who pays for plastic surgery to augment her breast size and turns her into a telenovela (soap opera) star. When we meet Olympia, she's playing the role of a nurse on television . Tired of acting, she literally walks north, crossing the river in her nurse's uniform and the javelin in her mouth, a crossing that mirrors her mother's twenty-six years earlier to give birth to her on this side of the border. North ofthe border she meets Billy, a man in his thirties who lives with his mother and is perenially looking for a job. As strong and determined as Olympia is, Billy is passive and weak. He sleeps late, complains ofa myriad ofvague illnesses as well as asthma, allowing his mother to run his life. Olympia breathes life into his otherwise-moribund existence. Her javelin training gives meaning to his days and Billy now becomes her coach. He checks books out of the library on the technical aspects of track and field training, taking his new career very seriously. Having being kicked out ofthe house by Billy's mother because she's uncomfortable with the possibility ofher son sleeping with Olympia under her roof, diey find refuge in the Plum Creek Inn motel in town. Once again we witness Olympia's strength when she literally forces the cigar-chomping motel owner to accept her credit card and rent them a room. The owner has other plans however. Besides the obvious sexual attraction he manifests towards her, he hopes that Olympia will make a tv commercial for his establishment. He needs customers and she can be his ticket to success. In the meantime, Ed, who has found Billy and Olympia at the motel, confronts both of them unsuccessfully. At the end of the film, Olympia walks out of the commercial set, disgusted with the motel owner's demands. Repeating her initial walk north of the border in the nurse's uniform, this time she walks south of the border in the maid's uniform, barefoot, without the javelin, crossing the river this time on the bridge. Precisely at midpoint on the bridge, Olympia says goodbye to Billy whom she does not want to go with her; he walks back north. Ed, who has been watching the scene from midpoint on the bridge, remains there, unsure about what to do next. The two final scenes show Billy coaching a soccer team ofyoung boys and girls, happy at having found a purpose , a career; we also see Olympia being interviewed at the Olympics where she has just won a medal. Her remarks emphasize the fact that she competes for her country, Mexico, and would never compete for the United States. Although not very sophisticated technically, Olympia remains a wonderful film about the border, about men and women from different cultures, about the unexpected. Throughout the film we can hear in voice-over Olympia and Billy meditating on life's wins and losses. Often Olympia speaks in Spanish in these voice-overs. As a matter offact, she uses both languages to her advantage and refuses to speak English during crucial moments in the story. Her singular focus on the javelin demand complete control over her environment. As a result, she appears distant, cold, self-centered , ungrateful even. Never smiling nor laughing, her anger gives her strength. "Rage is important for her to throw well," comments Ed during one of her training sessions with Billy who believes that...