WHEN WE WERE KINGS: He was DEFINITELY "The Greatest"!

 There was a time in my life when I disliked Muhammed Ali with a passion.  At the mature age of 8, I decided that I didn’t like this arrogant guy who talked too much and made fun of his opponents.  But time marches on, the young talker becomes an old man with afflictions and you realize that the message he was trying to deliver was about leadership and taking responsibility….something the current generation of athletes simply doesn’t get.  And THEN you realize that the voice which could have changed the world could no longer speak.  Anybody who watched the Atlanta Olympics and witnessed the outpouring of love for Ali the legend had to be moved by that.  And in  WHEN WE WERE KINGS, we have to feel lucky that a treasure like this is in our midst. 
  This is a phenomenal movie.  It’s not the story that grabs us….after all, we’ve known how it ends since 1974!  It’s about how we watch one man struggle, not only against an opponent who was seemingly unbeatable, but against the perceptions of his day and the perceptions of his people.  Norman Mailer puts it brilliantly at the end of the film, that he got the impression he was watching a great political leader in Ali, as he spoke to his African brothers after the fight.  And in no small measure, it provides a glimpse into what a man and what a character George Foreman is.  Here was a guy who came into this fight as a really MEAN dude.  Foreman was devastated after this fight, suffering through long bouts of depression that nearly ended his life.  But he fought and fought hard, eventually making it back into the ring to win an improbable heavyweight championship at age 45, by knocking out Michael Moorer. 
  It’s important to take into context what happened before this fight and what happened after this fight.  It’s about the struggle of an aging veteran coming out of exile, facing a guy who’s supposed to knock his block off.  It’s about Ali coming to grips and actually trying to DO something about the problems of his people back home.  It’s about the political backdrop in Zaire and the power that Mobutu holds in the country.  And it succeeds on every single level.  It’s also important to realize the significance of Plimpton and Mailer’s contributions to the film.  This is a movie not about a sporting event, but about a historical event.  You need something more than your average sportswriters to tell the tale and lay it in context, and Mailer & Plimpton do just that.  It’s one of the great sports documentaries of our time and certainly NOT to be missed.

10 out of 10