Educational Media Reviews Online

Filmmakers Christo Brock and Grant A. Barbeito started following swimmer Missy Franklin in late 2010, about a year and a half before the trials for the 2012 London Olympics. Although she was a strong contender to make the U.S. team, there was no way to know at the time that she stood on the cusp of stardom. Her own father admits that he nearly missed her breakout performance at the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai because he doubted the wisdom of spending more than $10,000 to watch “two minutes of swimming.” Franklin ended up competing in all of the relays, winning five medals (including three gold medals), and setting an American record.

From this point on Franklin’s career became a headlong rush toward Olympic glory. After a year of national titles, American and world records, and appearances on television programs like the Today show, she qualified for the Olympics in seven events and went on to win four gold medals and a bronze in London. Brock and Barbeito wisely choose to highlight Franklin’s youthful exuberance (which is all the more impressive considering she’s often being filmed immediately before or after a grueling workout or predawn practice) and loyalty to her friends, family, and teammates: despite her increasing success at the national level, for instance, she still competes for her high school swim team. It’s thus easy to enjoy Touch the Wall as a story of good things happening to a good person.

What elevates the film to another level of interest is its portrayal of a second swimmer, four-time Olympic silver medalist Kara Lynn Joyce, who announced that she was moving to Colorado to train with Franklin’s team Denver Stars shortly after filming began. At 26 years old, Joyce is considered somewhat past her prime, and her spot on the national team is by no means assured. Although she does end up making the team, she misses out on a $30,000 stipend by .03 seconds. The film is full of glimpses like this into aspects of the life of an Olympic athlete that most people never consider: how do adult non-superstars (who no longer live at home and can’t count on lucrative endorsement deals) make a living? How expensive is it to travel around the world watching your child compete?

Joyce is an interesting character in her own right, and her clashes with Todd Schmitz, the coach of Denver Stars, provide Touch the Wall with its moments of highest drama. She also represents the negative space of swimming stardom: her presence in the film reminds us that for every Missy Franklin who bursts onto the scene, there are scores of Kara Lynn Joyces in the background trying to come to terms with the fact that their time in the spotlight is over. As it happens, after a coaching change Joyce does go on to qualify for the London Olympics, where she finishes in a tie for 16th place in the 50-meter freestyle, an achievement which Franklin lauds as comparable to her five medals. It’s to her credit, as well as to Brock and Barbeito’s, that the sentiment seems completely genuine.

Between Franklin and Joyce, Touch the Wall contains the entire arc of an Olympic swimmer’s career. The filmmaking is accomplished: a bookending device whereby its principal subjects get matching Olympic rings tattoos and the way that home movie footage of Franklin as a child is artfully blended into the film are especially nice touches. Despite a tone that at times seems more pitched toward Franklin’s age group than Joyce’s (the titles counting down the days remaining to the Olympic trials that are interspersed throughout the film are pink and cartoony), it clearly has something to offer to any educational collection of sports movies.