JAMAICA!

In watching the four-man bobsled, I am sorely disappointed that there are no Jamaicans. Obviously, I realized that there would be no Jamaicans bobsledding before the Olympics started, but the sad realization has now hit me. I love the movie Cool Runnings based on the Jamaican bobsled team, but I wonder how true it really is. I know that there was a Jamaican bobsled team in Calgary that had never run on ice before. However, I wonder how they feel about being made into a comedy. Obviously, some people, like myself, would not mind seeing themselves as a comedy, but I realize that some people would take serious offense to this. The flexibility within the movie is through the phrase "based on a true story." While working within this realm, filmmakers can really do whatever they want to the less essential facts as long as the general story is roughly approximate. In this case, all of the names as well as the albeit hilarious fundraising sequences are made up (at least according to Wikipedia). However, whether or not the sequences are exactly accurate or not at least emphasize the main point of the story in that if you have talent and enough desire, you can rise above any adversity that arises. The movie also shows how natural talent might be able to be translated in ways that you never saw before. Although the real Jamaican bobsled team did not come from Olympic sprinters, there were military men. They were obviously in shape and capable of becoming world-class athletes. However, watching this movie only makes me wish that we could see the underdog rise again.