Once the most recognizable man on the planet, where he
started out as a brash young man from Louisville, Kentucky who went on to win
the Olympic Gold medal at age 18 as a light heavyweight in the 1960 Rome
Olympics, returning to America vowing to become the heavyweight champion of the
world by the time he was age 21. Filled
with a brimming confidence that reached levels of braggadocio and bravado, he
vocally belittled his opponents while exclaiming the wonders of his many
talents, which included quickness and speed in the ring, including superior
hand speed and reflexes, where he had the ability to elude punches. Nonetheless, his exclamatory behavior was
deemed offensive by an older generation of sports writers, who preferred the
calm demeanor of Joe Louis who let his fists do his talking. Unlike any other fighter in recent memory,
most of whom let their managers do the talking, the young Cassius Clay craved
the spotlight and thrived on outlandish behavior with the press, becoming a
provocateur whose theatrical outbursts drew interest to his fights, though he
was repeatedly called a loudmouth by the press, who viewed him with
condescension despite winning 19 straight fights, all of which led to his
opportunity at age 22 to fight heavyweight champion Sonny Liston for the title,
where he shocked the world by eluding Liston’s notorious punches and opening a
cut under Liston’s left eye, the first time he’d ever been cut, and it was
Liston who couldn’t answer the bell for Round 7, with Clay leaping into his
trainer’s arms, already claiming he was “the greatest fighter that ever
lived.” But the following morning he was
subdued, overly serious, and even reflective, as shortly afterwards, he
converted to the Nation of Islam and rebuked what he called his white “slave
name,” changing his name to Muhammad Ali. Even afterwards, many refused to recognize that
name, insisting he was still Cassius Clay, though New York Times sports journalist Robert Lipsyte points out, “Nobody
asked John Wayne or Rock Hudson what their names were.” Co-director of the Oscar nominated documentary
THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND (2002), this is an extremely well-edited film balancing
vintage archival material with intelligent commentary.
Even this early in his career, it was telling how so few saw
in him who he actually was, as the press continued to view him as just another
boxer, yet he didn’t restrict his controversial comments to boxing, and spoke
openly about racial prejudice while advocating black liberation, where his
stature in the sport drew international attention and acclaim, not just due to
his boxing crown, but his willingness to freely address social issues, coming
up with quips like “I’m not no slave, I’m Muhammad Ali,” often antagonizing the
white press, as well as many former boxing champions who were never allowed to
be so outspoken, which would make headlines around the globe. Also of interest, instead of visiting London,
or Paris, or Rome afterwards, the cradle of European civilization, Ali would
visit Islamist nations in the Middle East or Africa where he was embraced as a
hero. By the time he was drafted into
the army to serve in the Vietnam war, he refused to serve, claiming religious
convictions, “I ain’t got nothin’ against no Vietcong…My enemy is the white
people, not the Vietcong …You’re my opposer when I want freedom. You’re my opposer when I want justice. You’re my opposer when I want equality. You won’t even stand up for me in America
because of my religious beliefs, and you want me to go somewhere and fight, when
you won’t even stand up for my religious beliefs at home,” where he was
stripped of his heavyweight title, barred from entering the ring and his
passport revoked, and with it the adulation of many Americans, claiming he was
a draft dodger. Much of what this film
attempts to unravel are these continual misperceptions about Ali, despised by
some, revered by others, where among the best aesthetic choices made by the
director are his choices of interviews which act as the film’s narrative, where
we get Gordon Davidson, the only surviving member of the original consortium of
11 white Louisville businessmen that comprised the Louisville Contract Group
who managed him for six years as Cassius Clay, claiming he was responsible and
lived up to every term of his contract.
We learn first-hand accounts of Ali’s conversion to Islam from “Captain
Sam” (Abdul Rahman Muhammad), who met him on the street in Miami, introduced
him to Malcolm X and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, eventually persuading him
to convert.
Easily one of the film’s highlights are the candidly
revealing comments from Ali’s second wife, the amusingly outspoken Khalilah
Camacho-Ali, who found him too arrogant when she first met him, but later
married him and stuck by his side, calling him a “good Muslim man” for refusing
to serve in the military, for refusing to fight the “white man’s war,” which
was one of the essential lessons of the Nation of Islam, where we hear the
oratory of Malcolm X, “Don’t let the white man speak for you and don’t let the
white man fight for you.” Even the
Honorable Elijah Muhammad himself spent four years in jail rather than serve in
the military during World War II. One of
the clearest and most eloquent voices heard throughout is that of Salim
Muwakkil, former editor of the Nation of Islam newspaper Muhammad Speaks, and a former editorialist of The Chicago Tribune, where he helps navigate us through the various
splits within the Nation of Islam, including Malcolm X’s split from the
Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and then the fallout from his assassination, with
Ali continually siding with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. It was Khalilah Camacho-Ali, interestingly
enough, according to the producers, that enlisted an interview with Nation of
Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, as they are neighbors on the same block, where
Minister Farrakhan beams with pride when speaking about Ali, as he captivated
the attention of the Islamic world abroad while representing himself here at
home as a proud black man in America.
But the American public was enraged by his opposition to the Vietnam
War, yet in choosing faith and the adherence of his own convictions over the
potential millions he could have earned in his sport, this impressed Dr. Martin
Luther King, where Ali’s courage under fire helped persuade him to also come
out against the War in Vietnam. There’s
an intimate moment between the two when they realize they’ve been the targeted
victims of an FBI wiretap, which was searching for evidence of sedition, as in
the mid 60’s, free speaking black men were seen by the FBI as a threat to lead
an overthrow of the government. Hard as
it is to fathom, this was the paranoid rationale of FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover,
who continually harassed, blackmailed, and wiretapped Dr. King. There’s an even more poignant moment,
however, when Rahaman Ali recalls what his older brother went through during
this lengthy trial period awaiting vindication, when his name was dragged
through the mud, subjected to all sorts of demeaning invective and brutally
harsh judgment, where we see him called a fool, a pawn of Islam, a disgrace to
his race and his country, anti-American, a draft dodger, and a traitor, a time
when he could no longer support his family, where words fail him and emotions
erupt before the camera.
Ali’s trial remains a bone of contention, as many believe
that anyone who refuses to fight for his country doesn’t deserve to fight in
the ring, and some were adamant that Ali should serve time in jail, while
others found his defiant actions heroic, where according to Dr. King, “Those
who are seeking to equate dissent with disloyalty, those who are seeking to
make it appear that anyone who opposes the war in Vietnam is a fool or a
traitor or an enemy of our soldiers is a person that has taken a stand against
the best in our tradition,” reflected in the black power salutes displayed by
Olympic sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos in the 1968 Mexico City
Olympics. But after three and a half
years in litigation, his case goes to the Supreme Court, where we hear the
comments from Thomas Krattenmaker, clerk of Supreme Court Justice John Harlan,
and realize the court itself was just as conflicted about the legal
ramifications of Ali’s case, as they had allowed conscientious objector status
from Jehovah’s Witnesses, but not members of the Nation of Islam. So as not to open any swinging doors to all
Muslims, they agreed to establish legal precedent for Ali alone, and granted
him a unanimous victory. This allowed
Ali an opportunity to return to the ring, where his career transcended the
sport, as his name became synonymous with perseverance and the courage of one’s
convictions, where his innate personal charm has always created legions of
adoring admirers. Fifty years later, the
fury that Ali faced from an outraged American public may only be matched by the
outraged post 9/11 nation that continues to harbor fears and paranoia against
people of Islamist faith. Despite being
rendered physically powerless by the effects of Parkinson’s Disease, Ali came
out within 10 days to remind the American public that Islam is a religion of
peace, not one that advocates war. His
voice was nearly lost to the drumbeats of war, but his own decision of
conscience still reverberates with global implications today, as it’s often
hard to measure the difference between freedom fighters, religious zealots, men
of faith, and an appropriate use of the military. As a boxer, Ali probably had the fastest hand
and foot speed ever seen in a heavyweight, and was one of the first to control
his own press conferences and interviews, transforming the role of both black
athletes and a black populace in America by embracing racial pride, where in
the words of writer Joyce Carol Oates, he was one of the few athletes in any
sport to completely “define the terms of his public reputation.” Again, according to Robert Lipsyte, “We
created a symbol, and Muhammad Ali has long since been supplanted by what we
believe he is. There are so many ways of
looking at him that have only to do with us and have nothing to do with
him.” Ali was presented with the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.
