In the movie “ Cool Runnings”, the director mixes all different emotions with a storyline proving you can do anything that you put your mind to. The movie begins with Olympic hopeful Derice, running across Jamaica. He is doing this because he is training for the 1988 Olympic Games, and hopes to be a gold-medal winner just like his father was.. Then later on in the day, it’s race time. He’s confident he can represent Jamaica because he has been training for a long time for it.
The whole country comes to watch the Olympic hopefuls compete in hope to represent the country . Derice and all the other hopefuls line up for the race, and about halfway through, one of the runners trips and also trips Derice and another contestant who surely would have been a representative of Jamaica. All he can see is the tape being broken, and also his dreams. In this scene he shows that you can do anything you put your mind to by showing Derice training and training to be an Olympic athlete like his father was. It shows his emotion before the race how he is focused and ready to go, but then after he gets tripped how devastated he really is because making it meant so much to him.
The character Derice is crushed, but he is not the only character in this movie who feels that way. He even goes to the head of the event because he is so determined that he is faster and should have made it. While there he demands a re-race so he can have another shot, but is refused because he is so determined that he is faster and should have made it. Yul, is another runner who was tripped, seems like he is even more devastated than Derice is. All Yul wanted to do was get off the island and move on to bigger and better things that weren’t offered. Junior is the character who tripped them. After the race he feel incredibly bad, because he knows that both of them were the top sprinters on the island. However, his apology doesn’t feel welcomed, by either one. (Cool Runnings)
In the next scene, after Derice finds a picture of his father and a man who was an American now living on the island and who had tried to convince Derice’s father, to compete in bobsledding because he believed that sprinters would make the best bobsledders. Derice saw this as a another chance to compete and win a medal. He sets off to find him, but not without talking to his best friend Sanka about it first. He at first thinks its a joke because they tease each other about different things all the time, Sanka then realizes that Derice is being serious. After that Sanka then reminds him that bobsledding is a WINTER sport with “ICE” and continues to say ice over and over again emphasizing “ICE” each time because he likes the warm weather of Jamaica. After much discussion he finally convinces Sanka to help him come convince Irv to be their coach. (Cool Runnings)
Derice was determined once more to find him and convince him to coach him to the Olympics. He did everything in his power. Today, everything he did, might even be considered stalking. Derice and his trusty best friend Sanka waited at the restaurant for Irv hid and popped up and kept asking and asking. Irv finally gave in. (Cool Runnings) A few scenes later we see a room full of more hopefuls, but they don’t really know what they’re getting into.
That is until they watch a video and learn about bobsledding and how dangerous it actually is. The lights then go on again and there’s an empty room except for Derice, Sanka, Irv, and in the corner Yul. They’re all excited because they have someone else then their “coach” explains to them that a team has four people. Once again their hearts sink. That is until Junior the guy who tripped them shows up. All Yul wants to do when he first sees him is tear him apart, but Derice explains that “without him we don’t have a team”. Yul settles down, but not until after Sanka cracks a few jokes about him being bald.
Then Derice overjoyed with excitement that he might have the opportunity to compete in the Olympics smiles at Irv and says “You’re looking at the first ever Jamaican bobsled team. (Cool Runnings) This scene shows that just one guy who had an idea, got together a team of bobsledders from Jamaica, to try and make the Olympics and did. It also shows the emotion on each of their faces, because they are all so excited that they might have another shot at it. They then start training. Irv builds a makeshift bobsled and has them push it down a steep slope. While they are doing this he keeps nagging and yelling at them saying they need to get it completed in 6 seconds or under or they won’t have a chance at competing.
On a bobsled team there are four parts, each one as important as the other to make a successful team. Yul is the second middle man, Junior is first middle man. Irv tells Sanka that he is the break man, but Sanka does not like the idea at first, because he thinks driving would be as easy as in pushcart racing. Irv tells him that the driver has responsibilities on responsibilities, and that he would not be able to go out, party, and have a good time with his teammates. Sanka then agrees that Derice should be the driver. After many trials and lots of complaining from everyone they finally get it in just under six seconds! Irv, filled with excitement runs down the hill yelling the time.
After they hear what they got, they also are jumping with joy! Then coach tells them to haul the sled to the top to do it again, and all at once they all groan some more. (Cool Runnings) In this scene the team puts their mind to making the time that Irv gives them, and they do it! Not before they had to get everything else down, but they were determined to do it all. Once again in this scene it shows their emotion and how happy they are that they made the time. Now that the team is all trained and ready to go, Coach Irv goes to the Jamaican Olympic committee to ask for funds to send them.
Like Derice, he is turned down from lack of funds that they already have. Irv tries everything in his power to make the president change his mind, but it’s still a no. He’s heartbroken for them and he does not look forward to breaking the terrible news to the guys. (Cool Runnings) After the team gets the terrible news they are all devastated once again, but Derice has a plan. He says that they can come up with the money through sponsors and other things. Everyone else agrees and at the end of the week they would all meet up again to see if they had raised enough.
Derice goes around the island asking for donations from companies, but every single one laughs in his face. Yul, being big and strong wins money by arm wrestling competitions. Sanka on the other had had a completely different route for how he is going to earn money. He makes up a stupid funny song and sings it loud and proud, on the side of the road. The song goes “nuff people say they know they can’t believe, Jamaica we have a bobsled team (repeat once) we have the one Derice, and the one Jr., Yul Brenner, and the man sanka the fastest of the fastest of jamaican sprinters, go to Olympics, fight for Jamaica (repeat everything except for that last part) the fastest of the fastest of jamaican sprinters, respect to the man Irv Blitser”.
After the week was over, they didn’t have enough. Once again these guys were heartbroken because their dreams of making it to the Olympics seemed to be over. Jr walks in late with a bag full of cash from selling his car that allows them to go! Everyone is filled again with excitement, but then they realize that they can’t take this money. Then Jr says he is willing because, “if it weren’t for me, you guys would already be in the Olympics”. They finally agree after Jr pleads with them to take it and they are going to Calgary!(where the Winter Olympics were held that year). (Cool Runnings)
Throughout the entire movie the director uses different ways to tell the story. He uses humor by having the characters crack jokes all the time. He also uses emotion in each character to show how much things meant to them and how they felt about it all. Finally he uses the storyline saying that you can do anything you put your mind to. These Jamaican sprinters didn’t have a chance, at least that’s what everyone else thought. They believed in themselves and each other and that got them to where they wanted to be, the Olympics. (Cool Runnings)
