Three Seconds

The basketball final of the 1972 Munich Olympics. The Soviet Union against the United States, which until then had never been beaten at the Olympics. The film covers the road to that final: a new coach taking over, players' health problems, political pressure and constant interference from the federation. Then the game comes, and the last three seconds are played three times. Anton Megerdichev directs. The game is real and its result is still disputed. The American team objected to the officials' decisions, refused the silver medals, and those medals have still not been collected. What interests the film is not politics but the team. The narrative shows the pressure of the Soviet system, but its real subject is the players coming to know one another, with several personal stories brought forward. It was an extraordinary commercial success in Russia and broke the country's box office records. It was criticised for altering real people; the families of some players objected to how they were portrayed and there were legal proceedings. The game sequences are well worked technically; the basketball was shot at a real playing standard and the cutting carries the rhythm of the match. Who it is for: viewers who like sports films and productions drawn from real events. Who it is not for: the emotional emphasis is high, the character strands are formulaic, and the narrative takes liberties with historical accuracy.