Rep. Jim Jordan
“SURVIVING OHIO STATE” My rating: B (MAX)
108 minutes | No MPAA rating: PG
For those who have followed the controversy over the years, “Surviving Ohio State” will drop no new bombshells.
But Eva Orner’s documentary, about the sexual abuse scandal that wracked a powerhouse Midwestern University, does an admirable job of telling a big story that most of us have received only in bits and pieces over the better part of three decades.
Orner (an Australian whose “Chasing Asylum” savages her country’s response to refugees) takes her cues from the script by Jon Wertham, the “60 Minutes” correspondent whose 2020 series in Sports Illustrated painstakingly examined decades of predatory activities at OSU and many years of coverups.
Like a lot of rah-rah sports films, this one begins by describing the long culture of winning at Ohio State and the near-maniacal loyalty of its athletes and fans. We’re introduced to legendary wrestling coach Russ Hellickson and his assistant and former collegiate wrestling champ Jim Jordan. (Yes, the same Jim Jordon who is now a rabidly MAGA member of Congress.)
We’ meet the late Dr. Richard Strauss through the testimony of students and student athletes who were his victims. Strauss, a physician in the athletic department, had a reputation for fondling the genitals of athletes under the guise of a medical exam. He didn’t come off as an overtly dirty old man….more like straight-faced professional engaging in business as usual. His handsy practices were tolerated because the young players were too naive to realize precisely what was happening to them.
And then there were the showers. Strauss would take several a day, but only if there was an athlete in there with him. At one point after a tournament a wrestling referee found himself in the showers with the masturbating M.D.
Those who complained got knowing shrugs and answers like, “Well, that’s the Doc.” Strauss’ behavior became a running joke.
Except that in interviews numerous athletes (mostly wrestlers but also members of the fencing and hockey squads) exhibit traumatic responses to even talking about Strauss. Tears. Trembling. Big tough guys in their 40s and 50s going to pieces before our eyes. There was damage done.
The first hour of “Surviving Ohio State” chronicles the abuse in blushing and/or stomach-churning detail. My main beef with the film is that we keep getting the same story from a variety of individuals…the movie makes its case, but only at the risk of becoming repetitive.
Just when you think you can’t take another twisted anecdote, the movie shifts to the effort by former OSU jocks to sue the university for what they endured. Their legal effort was almost derailed by the statute of limitations; it took the intercession of the U.S. Supreme Court to get it back on track.
The former students interviewed say it isn’t about the money. They want the school to admit its complicity in tolerating Strauss’ behavior and then covering up the scandal.
In the film’s final chapter that we return to Jim Jordan. The former wrestlers who appear on screen invariably say that Coach Jordon was completely aware of Strauss’s transgressions. Jordan has repeatedly denied that this is the case.
I’ve never been a fan of Jordan’s politics, but after this I can hardly watch or listen to the guy.
Perhaps even more disheartening is the behavior of the beloved Coach Hellickson, who after meeting with former students agreed to join them in their quest, then did a 180 and prertty much evaporated from sight.
Throughout the all, the University refused to admit to any wrongdoing.
Daisy Ridley, Matthew Tuck
“CLEANER” My rating: B- (MAX)
97 minutes | MPAA rating: R
For an unapologetic ripoff of “Die Hard,” “Cleaner” is ridiculously diverting.
Terrorists take over a high-rise office building during a big celebration. They kill a few hostages. They can only be stopped by one lone individual who’s in the wrong place at the right time.
The good news is that the script by Simon Uttley, Paul Andrew Williams and Matthew Orton throws some unexpected twists into the familiar mix.
For starters, the bad guys are ecoterrorists whose plan is to the reveal to the world the dark secrets of a polluting energy conglomerate and the government officials who facilitate its environmental depredations.
Our lone wolf protagonist is a female window cleaner who is dangling outside the building 30 floors above the street when the invasion takes place. Her name is Joey (Daisy Ridley of “Star Wars” fame) and as luck would have it she’s a former special forces operative with a lethal skill set.
Oh, yeah, she’s also babysitting her autistic brother (Matthew Tuck), a geeky guy who carries a replica of Thor’s hammer but is something of a savant when it comes to computer hacking. His talents will come in handy.
“Cleaner “ gets off to a slow and rather desultory start. I was almost ready to bail after five minutes.
But then it kicks in and director Martin Campbell (a veteran of the Bond franchise) deftly juggles the growing suspense and carefully choreographed action.
| Robert W. Butler
Butler's Cinema Scene 