Director: Bill Siegel. 86 min. Documentary.
Opening scene, TV broadcast, 1968: "This man is a disgrace to his country, his race, and to what he laughingly describes as his profession. He's a simplistic fool, and a pawn." Then the same man is shown receiving the Medal of Freedom from the President of the United States in 2005. That sums up the entire film. It's neither about Mohammad Ali's affiliation with Islam, nor about his dodging the Vietnam draft as a "conscientious objector". It's about a man standing up for what he believes in against all crushing odds, and standing up proud in the end. Very inspiring.
PS: This is available for streaming on Netflix.
Mo says:
I really enjoyed this fine documentary and my respect for Ali grew as I watched a great man stand by his principals. I remember the confusion over his name change from Cassius Clay, my father refused to call him Muhammad Ali for years but he was never really politically aware.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that on any documentary I post about, you're always around as a witness to the real-life event to verify the film's credibility!
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