At the time of the films release in 1988, Moroccan Saïd Aouita held the world record in five running events: the 1,500 meters; 2,000 meters; 3,000 meters; 5,000 meters and two mile. He is also a two-time Olympic medalist who captured the gold in the 5,000 meters at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and the bronze in the 800 meters at the 1988 Games in Seoul. This film is a documentary of his life with comments from other stars of the track, namely Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram. Pat Butcher (read interview below) wrote and directed this 50 minute film. Shown on BBC2 in the UK, and also released in Scandinavia, this film became available on DVD in April of 2008. Michael Sandrock, sports editor for the Colorado Daily, refers to this film in his 1996 book Running with the Legends. This book is an essential read for any serious runner and the chapter on Saïd Aouita is aptly titled "It Must Remain a Secret". Visit GlobeRunner.org to place your order. For another Pat Butcher film see his 2001 production Race For Kenya. Enjoy this extended trailer:
Interview with Pat Butcher
London, England
January 2005
Producer, Director, Author
Running Movies: You have been involved in the sport at so many levels: competitor, reporter, author, and filmmaker. What aspect of the sport has interested you the most over the years?
Pat Butcher: This is a big question, because there are so many things that have happened over the four decades that I have been closely involved in running. The move to professionalism was long overdue, yet there are some aspects of it which have got out of hand, like the reliance on pacemakers in races, which is frankly boring, and is killing interest in middle distance running, the focus of track competition. I discuss this at some length in my book, The Perfect Distance, which I understand will be in US bookshops from February 2005. But problems like this are inevitable, no system is perfect. That said, by far the biggest problem in track and field athletics, as in so many sports, is ‘performance-enhancing’ drugs. I was one of the first track journalists to write extensively on the problem – in a series of articles which appeared in The Times of London in December, 1987. It is no excuse to say that drug-taking is just as widespread in many other sports, but I do think that track gets it in the neck, because it is the principal Olympic sport, and it is perceived as somehow being more to blame for sullying the Corinthian ethic, which never existed anyway in the Ancient Olympics. There was just as much cheating back then, AND the winners got paid…
As for drugs, gene doping, ie genetic implants will soon be possible, so what then? If performance-enhanicng drugs were not dangerous to health (and many of them are not, in small doses), then I would be inclined to say let’s have open house on drugs. But I am not optimistic about the future. To finish (and I could go on at length), what has interested me most in recent years has been the advances in women’s athletics (to use the European/worldwide term). Women are still subordinate in so many societies, it has been fascinating to see how women are using sport as a means of emancipation, and their stories, and the way the records are coming down has been the most exciting thing for me.
RM: Your first film you produced was Arabian Knight: The Story of Saïd Aouita. Why had you selected Aouita rather than one of your countrymen (Coe, Ovett, Cram) in choosing the focus of your film?
PB: Firstly, I have always been interested in cinema, so it was inevitable at some point that I should make some form of cinema, in this case, documentary. My career as a journalist only took off in 1982, by which time documentaries had already been made on Coe and Ovett, and one on Cram was in production. I was intrigued by Aouita, and I had the advantage of being a French speaker, so I think I did the very first interview with him by an Anglo-Saxon journo. That was at the World Champs at Helsinki 1983, and I got to know him quite well over the succeeding years. He was a real character as well as being a great champion, he brought a lot of colour to the sport. I thought his attempt to win their 800/1500m in Seoul, having won the 5000m in LA, was one of the most outrageous (and courageous) things ever attempted at the Olympics. That he failed, ie third in the 800, then injured for the 1500, did not diminish the scope of his ambition, and ultimately that’s what separates the great athletes from the rest. Also being Moroccan, there was a degree of exoticism that we were able to capture in the documentary, which also features interviews with Coe and Cram, incidentally.
RM: How has your personal running and competing in this sport influenced your movie making?
PB: I think if you strive for excellence in anything, you strive for excellence in everything. You cannot separate one facet of your life from another.
RM: Do you have a favorite film about running?
PB: That’s easy – Jericho Mile, without question. Firstly, Michael Mann is a class-act as a film director, and although this was his first feature, and as a TV film suffered from a small budget, it has so many points of interest – good acting, a serious script, with tremendous sub-plots (rival gangs in the gaol – actually filmed in Folsom), as well as capturing the striving of the principal character, Murphy, to give a sense to his life through running to Olympic standard. At a deeper level, it’s a revenge drama, with overtones of Greek tragedy. As such, there are no cheap, ’glorious’ ending, although it manages to be life-affirming. The film is ‘small’ in scope, but perfectly realises its ambitions. It‘s a reminder just how good films can be, in both form and content, when there is so much trash around.
RM: Race for Kenya was your latest documentary film. Are there plans on making this film more readily available for the public to purchase?
PB: Unfortunately not. Race For Kenya did not get the exposure I had hoped, in fact, it hardly got any exposure at all, despite what I felt was a serious attempt to explore and explain the reasons for Kenyan running success. Perhaps it was too serious in an era when triviality rules. I’m afraid the cost of transferring the documentary to DVD would far outweigh any income I could expect from sales. Furthermore, I am principally a writer, and I had a book project that I wanted to explore.
RM: Your latest project was the 2004 release of the book The Perfect Distance. Have your goals been met with this writing and is there any film plans in the near future?
PB: This was the book I was always destined to write, because I was able to document probably the greatest era in British and world athletics, as well as integrate some of my own ideas and opinions on the sport and competition in general. Again, it hasn’t achieved the sales that I hoped, but my priority was the writing of it, and I think it is a book which will endure. As for films, there is, ironically for the subject of my book – Seb Coe and Steve Ovett – a young French documentary maker interested. I have agreed to help him all I can, the doco would need to made this year, to concur with the 25th anniversary the Moscow Olympics this summer. Because, despite all their world records, what everyone remembers – including US fans, who weren’t able to watch the 1980 Olympics, because of the boycott – is their two races in Moscow.
RM: Thank you for your time, Pat, and is there anything else you would like to express to the viewers at RunningMovies.com?
PB: As you know, I’m a big fan of RunningMovies.com, because, as everyone can now tell from my responses above, it combines my two great passions (apart from beer and women), running and movies!
RM: Your first film you produced was Arabian Knight: The Story of Saïd Aouita. Why had you selected Aouita rather than one of your countrymen (Coe, Ovett, Cram) in choosing the focus of your film?
