NR | 1h 30m | Documentary | 2008
Viewers will hear many references to the “Olympic spirit” during the Paris Games, but what does that really mean? Does it refer to so-called sportswashing, when oppressive regimes, like Germany in 1936 and China in 2008, host the Olympics to distract from their abysmal human rights records?
From the 1972 Munich assassinations of Israeli athletes to the recent Russian doping scandal, the vaguely defined “Olympic spirit” has lost much of its luster. Yet for sheer Olympic dysfunction, it is hard to top the Hungarian men’s water polo team’s outrage when they were forced to face the Soviet team mere weeks after the USSR brutally invaded and occupied their nation. However, unlike so many of their countrymen, they could fight back in what is still considered the “bloodiest” water polo match of all time.
Director Colin Keith Gray and cinematographer Megan Raney Aarons document the fateful Olympic semifinal and the tragic events of the Hungarian Revolution that closely preceded it in “Freedom’s Fury.”
Cold War Context
Sports fans should understand that Mr. Gray and Ms. Aarons (brother and sister filmmakers who refer to themselves as “The Sibs”) provide extensive historical context in this documentary. Knowledge of these events is critically important for understanding 20th-century Cold War history, as well as the viscerally charged atmosphere of the Olympic match.At the end of World War II, Hungarians were happy the Soviets defeated the Germans and their local fascist proxies. They soon learned they had essentially traded one oppressive occupier for another. For years, Hungarian General Secretary Matyas Rakosi was one of the USSR’s most brutal puppet rulers.
However, after the death of Stalin, Imre Nagy emerged as a reformist prime minister. In many ways, Nagy is comparable to Czechoslovakian reformer Alexander Dubcek during the “Prague Spring” of 1968, but he is not as internationally celebrated, probably because he didn’t live to enjoy his retroactive accolades after communism’s fall.
Indeed, the tragic fates of Nagy and his defense minister Pal Maleter, who advised the revolutionary forces opposing the invading Soviet army, are discussed in-depth by an impressive assembly of historical figures. These include Maleter’s widow, Judith Gyenes, and Nikita Khrushchev’s son, the late Sergei Khrushchev, a naturalized American citizen, who in no way endorses his father’s military crackdown.
The Hungarians
Even during the historically focused segments, “The Sibs” incorporate extensive commentary from surviving members of the Hungarian national team. Like most Hungarians, they were eager for more freedom and supported real independence. Yet, the Olympic team represented their greatest opportunity for personal advancement under communism.In fact, there was prior resentment between the two teams, because the Hungarians believed they had been forced to reveal many of their secret CrossFit techniques (which were arguably ahead of their time) in regime-mandated joint training sessions. As a result, emotions were explosively high by the time they entered the water.
The blow-by-blow (literally) chronicle of the match itself is quite a compelling sports story. Even under ordinary circumstances, water polo involves a lot of rough physical contact below the water surface. However, the violence in this match spilled blood in the water. Indeed, the photo of Hungarian Ervin Zador profusely bleeding from his wounded eye became a source of international embarrassment for the Soviets, and it should have been remembered as one of the most indelible images of the “Captive Nations” era.
At the time of filming, all the surviving team members appeared mentally sharp and physically spry, albeit in an understandably grizzled kind of way. Happily, both those who defected and their teammates who chose to remain in Hungary lived to enjoy happier days. With the benefit of 50 years of hindsight, they now bear their Soviet rivals no ill will, considering them just as much victims of their own communist regime.
‘Blood in the Water’
The “Blood in the Water” match is an amazing episode in Olympic history. “Freedom’s Fury” employs traditional documentary techniques, but the filmmakers relate the tense events with appropriate sensitivity and thoroughness. In addition to the Hungarian and former Soviet players, Bob Horn, an American water polo player, offers his own memories of the Hungarian team he faced in the first round of competition.Of course, the film’s narrator, Mark Spitz, is one of the greatest American Olympians of all time. Although the nine-time Gold Medal winner was a young child at the time of the 1956 Olympics, he was once coached by Zador, so obviously the Hungarian team holds considerable personal significance for him.
No IOC Sanctions
The matchup between Hungary and the USSR was a ghoulish twist of fate, but the Olympic audience immediately rallied behind the invaded nation’s team. Everyone should respect the guts and self-respect exhibited by the Hungarians under such trying circumstances.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) did nothing to sanction the Soviets after their invasion of Hungary, but Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein boycotted the 1956 Games in protest. Almost 70 years later, the IOC remains troublingly hospitable to the world’s most repressive regimes, so it is important to remember the events of 1956 as part of a long pattern of behavior.
Mr. Gray and Ms. Aarons deserve a lot of credit for capturing the players’ memories for posterity. Their resulting documentary is one of the best Olympic films, of any kind, that you can stream during the Paris Games.
Very highly recommended, “Freedom’s Fury” is currently available for free, through ad-supported streaming.
