Ali

Michael Mann’s film about legendary heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali equals the grace, wit and charisma of its main character. More subtly constructed and understated then Mann’s previous work, the film has an energy and integrity that leave the director’s ostensibly shocking, actually ho-hum thriller The Insider in the dust. The formidable Ali’s exhilarating portrait of the man behind the myth surpasses most American releases of the past year.

The film’s bold extended opening sequence intercuts a high-octane night club performance by Sam Cooke in front of awestruck female fans with staccato clips of sombre Ali (Will Smith) training with mute intensity. Among the first scenes is one of Ali jogging down a cold pre-dawn street while being tailed by two patrolmen in a car. One of them asks, “What you running from son?” The scene, throughout which Ali remains silent, is an apt introduction to the fighter, whose life outside the ring became a microcosm of the social and political issues confronting African Americans in the post-Kennedy era. Ali stays silent right up until a press event prior to his first title shot in February 1964 against Sonny Liston, at which Ali comes out swinging, exploding with lazy rapid fire delivery of his trademark rhyming couplets: “Sonny Liston, you ain’t no champ! You a chump! Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! You want to lose your money, bet on Sonny! Rumble, young man, rumble!” The man’s often-brooding presence is at odds with these frequent, playful and hilarious performances for a media that fawned over the indomitable fighter’s wit, yet doesn’t seem contrived or ill-executed. Will Smith et al succeed in depicting the boxer as a complex blend of conviction and indifference, doubt and courageousness.

Ali begins with the fight against Liston and ends ten years later with the famous “Rumble in the Jungle,” considered to be one of the greatest sports events of all time by those sho take satisfaction is assessing such things - Ali’s fight in Zaire against defending heavyweight champ George Foreman. The film is made up of episodic vignettes of his life between these two poles, including scenes from Ali’s turbulent personal life and relationships with three successive women, and legal battles against the US government. Part of the film’s success derives from its loose attention to narrative structure and shying away from building dramatic conflict, resulting in dynamic montages that don’t bore with excessively strained reliance on plot. Because of this, Mann manages to convey the inspiring story of Ali with a flair and originality that becomes its subject.

To a certain extent, Mann, and Will Smith, faced insurmountable odds in trying to bring to life an account of the mythic boxer’s journey through the world’s psyche - no, not competition from the armada of war films currently invading multiplexes everywhere. The competition comes from the man himself, a larger than life figure who charmed the press and the people and whose actions, religion and politics were part of a wider struggle against the US government. Ali became a legend in the ring, but the battles he fought outside it, with beguiling wit, charm, and – Mann’s film makes clear – righteous conviction, made him an irresistible symbol of defiance and triumph. Tough indeed to top both the artistry that Ali himself exuded in his ongoing media encounters and boxing outings and the drama his life engendered.

Born Cassius Clay, upon becoming heavyweight champ Ali promptly became Muslim and refused to use what he referred to as a slave’s name, taking on the Muslim name he became known by. Ali openly associated with radical black militants, the Nation of Islam and Malcolm X (Mario van Peebles). In the film, when asked if he’s “the people’s champ,” Ali uncomfortably replies that he wants to be the people’s champ “his way.” His relationship with Nation of Islam and Malcolm X is complex, and he seems to be at various junctures torn between his friendship for the latter and loyalty to the mission of the former. When Ali refuses to accept being drafted for the Vietnam war, publicly uttering strong opinions about his reluctance to lose his life for a government that remains oblivious to the needs of black America, he is threatened with a jail term and commences a five year long battle with the authorities. The film indicates that he was not exempt from the FBI’s policy of wiretapping figures they perceived to be potential instigators of unrest in the inner cities and ghettos of the US. In 1974, when Ali is looking to reclaim his title from mean Texan pugilist George Foreman, Don King arranges the first all-black promoted boxing match in the newly formed country of Zaire, headed by dictatorial Mobutu, who puts up $5 million dollars per fighter.

Ali is greeted in Zaire with a roaring chorus of “Ali, bumaye!” (Kill him, Ali!). The scene in which he jogs among a worshipping throng of children and ducks into the back lanes of an African community is extraordinary. Ali is humbled and overwhelmed by the greeting, and mesmerized by graffiti of him raising gloved fists to airplanes and bombs above him. The scene could have been ruined by a heart-wringing monologue or even a few subsequent contrived words, but is carried off instead by Will Smith’s expression alone.

The currently relevant political overtones in Ali’s life and struggle won’t be lost on many of today’s viewers. The final images of triumphant Ali, arms raised in a victorious salute, provide a much needed counter to mainstream representation and discussion of Africans, African Americans, and Muslims. More than an entertaining portrait of a fascinating individual, the film serves as a potent reminder of the bloody battles fought during an historic era; further, it is a rousing story of hope that attests to the fact that resistance in the face of systemic injustice is not futile.