Black History Month seemed to be the best month to revisit a 1996 documentary I hadn't viewed in 20 some odd years. While I am not the biggest boxing fan, what a fascinating story this was that was perfect for it being chronicled: former World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali tries to regain a title he only lost because he went to prison for refusing to be drafted into military service, vs. George Foreman... at the time not the cuddly sort who sold grills to people but rather was a ferocious champion that steamrolled other great fighters... and the setting was what was known then as Zaire and if not for injury postponing the bout a month, it would have been held alongside Zaire '74, a concert involving a killer lineup that included James Brown, B.B. King, Bill Withers, the Fania All-Stars, The Spinners, and Miriam Makeba. One day I'll finally see Soul Power, a separate documentary from '08 solely devoted to Zaire '74.
Ali was quite controversial at the time but Lord, this has the likes of Don King and of course there's the uncomfortable reality that those big events were put on by a dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko; while a few of his actions were mentioned, he did many horrid things while in power but I'll let people use Google instead of making this a downer of a review. In what was an electric atmosphere full of bizarre characters, it was of course Ali who was the most memorable with his nonstop motormouth, his braggadocios attitude and funny comments sure to entertain even those that has never cared about boxing... but he also cared about trying to help those in the Black community who were disadvantaged.
This does a great job of presenting why the whole event has become legendary, and specifically why the fight-”The Rumble in the Jungle”-is still one of the most famous boxing bouts in history. There is an easy to understand strategy, forever known as the Rope A Dope, and an electric fight in front of an estimated 60,000 people that were all rooting for the challenger. For a movie a hair under 90 minutes, this packs a LOT: the fight and the main moments from its build-up, the clips that illustrated Ali's personality/beliefs, clips from Zaire '74, footage of those that live in what is now known as The Democratic Republic of the Congo, and an overall examination of The Black Experience back at that particular moment in time.
This taking over 20 years to complete did result in several people being interviewed in the 90's to offer comments in hindsight or their experiences at the Rumble-this included the likes of journalist George Plimpton, trainers in Ali's camp & Spike Lee. Overall, I was relieved that this was as high quality a documentary as I had remembered it being.
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