Eddie the Eagle (5 Stars)

True Stories #16

Name: Michael Edwards

Lived: 5 December 1963 – still alive

Film dates: 1973 to 1988, mostly 1987 to 1988

Film made in 2016

Anything is possible if you don't give up.

Michael Edwards, usually called Eddie Edwards, had a dream from his childhood on. He wanted to be in the Olympic Games. For a young boy with no sporting abilities, this was a crazy dream. As he grew older he still didn't show any talent. He tried out sport after sport and failed at everything he did. There were always people much better at him. Finally, in 1987, he had an inspiration. He decided to learn ski jumping, because it was a sport that nobody in Britain practised. If he became a ski jumper nobody would be better than him, so he'd have to be picked for the British Olympics team.

Eddie travelled to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany to learn how to jump. He was mocked by the experienced jumpers who were in Garmisch-Partenkirchen to prepare for the Olympics. Only the retired jumper Bronson Peary took him seriously and agreed to train him.

At his first contest Eddie set a new British record of 34 meters for a jump from a 70 meter slope. That might sound good, but it was only possible because of the lack of competition in Britain. The contest's winner jumped 110 meters. Eddie visited the Olympic Committee and demanded to be entered into the Olympic Games as the British champion. They told him that in order to qualify for the Olympic Games he would have to jump 61 meters. After hard training he managed this distance a few months later.

At the Olympic Games in Calgary Eddie finished last, but his eccentric victory celebration won him the nickname Eddie the Eagle. He spontaneously decided to enter the event for the 90 meter jump, which he had never attempted before. Bronson doubted Eddie would survive the jump, but he knew he couldn't talk him out of it. Eddie set a new British record of 71.5 meters from the 90 meter slope, but he finished last again.

Eddie returned home to a hero's welcome. The rules for qualifying for the Olympic Games were subsequently changed to stop anyone like Eddie ever taking part again.

This is a magnificently uplifting film with excellent performances by Taron Egerton as Eddie and Hugh Jackman as Bronson Peary. The actress Iris Berben also appears as the barkeeper Petra in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Success Rate:  + 0.0

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Traumfrauen (2 Stars)

What's this film about? Four women and one man? Not quite. There are other men in the film. You can't believe everything that film posters tell you.

"Dream Women" (the literal translation of the title) is about a family of three women in Berlin who are having relationship problems. The mother Margaux (Iris Berben) has recently been left by her husband for a younger woman. Her daughter Leni (Hannah Herzsprung), who runs a cafe, was planning to move in with her boyfriend until she found out that his previous girlfriend is still living with him. Her other daughter Hannah (Karoline Herfurth) is a busy lawyer with awkward social skills that prevent her finding a man.

So far it sounds like a typical American soap opera, doesn't it? Let's carry on setting the scene. Hannah shares an apartment with Vivienne (Palina Rojinski), who claims to have no problems with men because she has too much sex to worry about love. Vivienne tries to help Hannah by dressing her and giving her advice when she goes on dates, but it doesn't work. Hannah messes up, and there's never a second date with a man. Leni had already given notice for her apartment before breaking up with her boyfriend, so she has nowhere to live and has to move in with Hannah. That's what sisters are for.

So here's the solution. Vivienne says that Leni can get over being love sick by having sex with three different men in three days. If that doesn't work, she can find a fourth man. And a fifth, etc. Vivienne takes the two sisters out clubbing to help them find men. Hannah is usually shy, but after having a few drinks she feels bold enough to flirt with one of her colleagues that she spots in the club. It might have worked out, except that she's sick and manages to vomit all over his face. Yuck! That would turn me off as well.

Leni is more successful. She meets Joseph (Elyas M'Barek), an actor who's well known as a child star in a TV series. It's love at first sight. She has to go outside to put Hannah in a taxi, and he promises to wait. While she's outside Joseph gets into a fight with two fans of his TV series, so he's thrown out. She goes back in the club and thinks he's deserted her. She's approached by the singer who performed in the club that evening, Guy (Doron Amit), an Israeli superstar who lives in New York, but is considering moving to Berlin. He's gentle and sensitive, which leads Leni to fall for him. Love at first sight twice in one night? Women!

That's not the end of it. Joseph still wants to be with Leni and comes to her cafe. Leni's ex-boyfriend is also repentent and wants to be with her. Within two days she goes from having no man to three men. Can't she share with her poor little sister Hannah?

Margaux meets a man in her computer course, which is complicated when her husband wants to return to her. That seems to be a trend in her family.

Vivienne, who had sworn never to fall in love, meets a man who has an apartment with 21 dogs. He only wanted to pick one dog from an animal rescue centre, but it broke his heart to see the dogs suffering, so he kept taking new dogs. Heartless Vivienne falls for a man who has too much heart.

One thing I like to do when I watch films is search for the filming locations in Google Maps. In this film it was easy, because street signs were often visible. Margaux lives in Pücklerstraße 22, Berlin, on the corner of Amselstraße.

This is the same scene in a snapshot from Google Streetview. Why do the silly Germans insist on censoring views of their houses? In the film we can see everything. Don't forget that you can click on all the pictures for an enlarged view.

Leni finds an advertising column with a picture of the coat she's wearing. The text says "I am sooo cheap". Oops.

The advertising column is on the corner of Elisabethkirchstraße and Strelitzer Straße in Berlin.

Leni runs across the road to greet Joseph.

This is where it was filmed.

Leni talks to Joseph.

This is the same street corner from a third angle. The Germans love their censorship.

I didn't enjoy the film very much. It's supposed to be a comedy, but I didn't find it funny. It's supposed to be about romance, but I didn't find it romantic. I regret that I have to say that, because it features two of my favourite actresses, Iris Berben and Karoline Herfurth. Despite my dislike for the film overall, I have to say that this is Karoline's best performance. I've seen her in a lot of films and I've watched her interviews on YouTube, so that I feel like I know her. I have the impression that in this film she was playing herself, i.e. Hannah is the real Karoline Herfurth: intelligent but socially awkward, a winner in her career but a loser in love. Am I right? Only Karoline herself can answer the question.

Eddie the Eagle (5 Stars)

Is there a good reason I only gave this film a four star rating last time I watched it? If there is I don't know what it is. This is the best sports film I've ever seen. It's the story of an underdog, like "Rocky", but the difference is that while "Rocky" ended with Rocky Balboa becoming a champion, "Eddie the Eagle" ends with Eddie Edwards finishing last in two events in the Olympic Games.

Nevertheless, it's a true story, and Eddie was praised as a hero throughout the world, not only in his home country of Great Britain. The story is so absurd that it's difficult to believe it, unless, like me, you're old enough to remember it happening in 1988. In fact, if you asked me to name athletes who took part in the 1988 Winter Olympics I could only tell you one name: Eddie Edwards.

Eddie gave inspiration to millions of people by living up to a statement by Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the Olympic Games, in 1896:

"The important thing in the Olympic Games is not the winning but the taking part".

It was Eddie's dream to be an Olympic athlete from his early childhood. It didn't matter what sport it was, as long as he could go to the Olympics. He tried sport after sport without success. Finally he picked ski jumping, because he thought it would easy to qualify. He was right. The Olympic rules allowed each country to send at least one athlete for each sport, and there were no other competitive ski jumpers in Britain. Eddie qualified for the Olympic Games with a jump of 34 meters, even though the current world record was 191 meters.

The British Olympic Association expected Eddie to be an embarrassment and tried to block his participation by changing the rules, but it was too late to stop him. Eddie was going to the Olympics. He finished last in his two events, the 70 meter jump and the 90 meter jump, but he won the hearts of the audience. The press gave him the nickname Eddie the Eagle. When Frank King, the president of the Olympic organising committee, addressed the athletes in the closing speech, he only singled out one athlete:

"You have broken world records and you have established personal bests. Some of you have even soared like an eagle".

Taron Egerton puts on a spotless performance as Eddie, awkward but immediately likeable. Hugh Jackman is also excellent as Eddie's coach, Bronson Peary. Petra, the owner of a bar at the ski jumping training facility in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, is played by Iris Berben, one of Germany's most famous actresses.

Iris might have been 65 years old when she appeared in the film, but doesn't she still look heavenly? How could Eddie have resisted her physical advances. On the other hand, I doubt that the real life Petra was as attractive as Iris.

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Eddie the Eagle (4 Stars)

This is the true story of the British athlete Eddie Edwards and his participation in the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary.

Ever since he was a child Eddie wanted to take part in the Olympic Games, despite showing hardly any athletic abilities. After attempting other sports he finally picked ski jumping, because it had very low requirements to qualify for the British team. While training in Garmisch, Germany he met the failed ski jumper Bronson Peary, who became his coach. When he took part in the Olympics he earned the doubtful honour of setting a new British record while finishing last in the competition by a large margin. He became a favourite with the public and the press, partly because of his extravagant antics after his jumps, partly because they recognised him as an underdog who wouldn't give up.

This is a hilarious film, just as funny as Eddie's real life. Despite being mocked by his peers who considered his performance sub-standard -- and to be honest, it really was sub-standard -- he carried on fighting and became the most famous athlete of the 1988 Winter Olympics. However, the British Olympic Committee took a less sympathetic view, and they changed the rules to make sure that nobody with accomplishments as low as his could ever participate again.