The Olympics in Mexico

Director: Alberto Isaac

1969 / 160min / Digital

The only film in this series directed by an actual ex-Olympian—Isaac represented Mexico in the 1948 and ’52 Summer Olympics—documents the Games’ touchdown in the director’s hometown of Mexico City in the turbulent year of 1968. Alongside the iconic image of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, American medalists for the 200-meter sprint, posing at the winner’s podium with fists clenched in a Black power salute, Isaac’s sprawling film lavishes on the sporting action and fierce competition, including a revealing peek at the bruising underwater activity of a water polo match that generally goes unseen by spectators.

Part of Art Cinema, Olympiad, and the World