Rating: ***
At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, two
African American athletes placed in the medal categories for the 200 meter
dash. As the “Star-Spangled Banner” played, gold medalist Tommie Smith and
bronze medalist John Carlos raised their fists in the air. In the midst of the
social upheaval of the 60s, 1968 being the pinnacle of it, Smith and Carlos
couldn’t have made a gesture more incendiary than what became the “Black Power
salute” heard ‘round the world.
Of course to Carlos, now a track coach at Palm Springs High School in
California, it was more a symbol of solidarity, but that didn’t matter to the U.S.
Olympic officials who recalled him and Smith to American soil immediately after
the medal ceremony. It also didn’t matter to the people that hired Carlos years
later and fired him when they found out he was that “John Carlos.” And
apparently it still matters to those retractable few who still send Carlos hate
mail more than 40 years after the Mexico
City games.
Carlos is one of the six people profiled by
Dutch director Klaas Bense in One Fine Day. Each of the people profiled,
in one way, shape or form, have inspired change through simple acts of
non-violence. There’s María Jesús Sanhueza, who led a student protest in Chile
to get better and more affordable access to education; there’s Christian Führer,
a Protestant pastor who opened his East Berlin church as a free speech zone,
which played no small part in the eventual fall of the Berlin Wall; and Kovida,
a Burmese monk who stood up to his country’s military might only to end up
expelled from his home country.
These are all incredible stories, and I
admire the very steady and hands off way that Bense collects their stories and
gets their insights. But there’s no real context and I’m not sure why these
people were singled out. Bense’ definition of achievement too seems rather all
over the map; Sanhueza changed the way Chile’s
educational system works, but Carlos fist seems to have just gotten him into one
instance of hot water after another for life. I think the message is very, very
good, the idea that one person can make a world of difference is as apropos now
as it’s ever been, but I am still stuck as to the more specific idea that
connects them. But I suppose as a source of inspiration, One Fine Day is
fine enough.
