Endurance

The story of how long-distance runner Haile Gebrselassie made his way from a mud hut in Ethiopia to Atlanta, GA, where he won an Olympic gold medal, might have made for a passably interesting documentary: It's certainly inspirational, in an ESPN-ish way. But British filmmaker Leslie Woodhead instead fashioned a "non-fiction feature" — essentially a dramatization of real-life events featuring a few of the real-life people — an approach as pointless as it dull. Haile grew up on his father's farm near the village of Asela, running six miles to school in the morning and working afternoons in the family fields. In 1980, young Haile listened in on his family's ...