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Ali
***
Cinema Releases - February 22, 2002
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 15. 156
minutes. Directed by Michael Mann. Written by Michael Mann, Stephen J. Rivele,
Eric Roth, Christopher Wilkinson; from a story by Gregory Allen Howard. Starring
Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Jon Voight, Mario Van Peebles, Ron Silver, Jeffrey
Wright, Mykelti Williamson, Jada Pinkett Smith, Joe Morton, Giancarlo
Esposito.
I didn't want to see this movie. I figured that
it would have a familiar and clichéd arc, that Will Smith would
egoistically overact in the lead role, that it would do a clumsy job of trying
to communicate the persona of Muhammad Ali. We've already had one great movie
about the legendary boxer, the 1996 documentary "When We Were Kings", and
previous fiction films have done such a dull job of trying to cover the same
ground that I had no reason to be enthusiastic about this one.
I was wrong. "Ali" serves a different
purpose to "When We Were Kings" -- that movie was about Ali's qualities of
leadership, his aura, his legend; this one is about the man, his internal
struggles, the way his life looked when he wasn't in front of crowds. Michael
Mann directs the movie with a calm and original approach, and Will Smith
gives a surprisingly convincing performance.
"Ali" begins in 1964, when the young Cassius Clay
first beat Sonny Liston to become World Heavyweight Champion, and ends in
1974, when he fought George Foreman in the 'Rumble in the Jungle' and managed
to regain his title. In between, of course, Clay changed his name to Muhammad
Ali, became an outspoken advocate for civil rights and the Nation of Islam,
faced tough legal challenges and got stripped of his title for refusing to
fight in Vietnam.
We know the biographical details, but "Ali" sees
them in a new light, just by virtue of the way it divides its time. The film
gives us a new empathy for how difficult it was for Ali during the Vietnam
controversy, showing his private conversations, his self-doubt, the very
real difficulty he had in finding support. It's easy to look back and nod
at someone's heroism once history has judged it to be heroic, but at the
time it feels lonely, guilty and dangerous. There have been TV movies that
attempt to draw out the important passages of Ali's private life, such as
"Muhammad Ali: King of the World" and "Don King: Only in America", but they've
been dull and stolid. Mann's direction gets under the skin of situations
-- his camera style has a depth and fascination about it, mixing polished
lighting with documentary movement, holding our attention and urging reflection
through long, contemplative shots.
Smith does a committed job of emulating Ali's
mannerisms and voice, and I was pleasantly surprised that he didn't overreach
or make the performance too grandiose. Ali's famous crowd-pleasing moments,
such as when he teased ABC sportscaster Howard Cosell in interviews or rapped
about his opponents ("Ali comes out to meet Frazier, but Frazier starts to
retreat; if he goes back any further, he'll end up in a ringside seat!"),
are of course inimitable, and so neither Smith nor Mann try too hard to emphasise
them as highlights or hammer home their humour -- they end up being quietly
effective, when they could have been embarrassing imitations.
Scenes depicting private exchanges successfully
communicate such things as Ali's impossible standards for women and inability
to maintain relationships, and yet they do not demonise the man, but make
him human. Other movies have done a clumsy job of depicting Ali's private
behaviour -- they've shown him as drab and sanctimonious at home, a loudmouth
in front of the cameras -- but Smith does something more believable, mixing
elements of the humour and steadfastness that Ali showed in public life with
more subdued, down-to-earth body language. Yes, it's the only commonsense
approach, but it's never been pulled off before.
"Ali" is not perfect, because Muhammad Ali is
too unique to be portrayed completely accurately in fiction and too complex
for all bases to be covered in one film. This movie does, however, do about
as good a job as possible of getting an actor to portray Ali, and shows
everything from interesting angles. Although not as good a film as "Gandhi",
it helps us see some of the same things -- greatness comes through struggles
in everyday life, through trying to be moral in every decisive action, through
willingness to be hated; it's not just a question of making sweeping speeches
and marching down clear paths of glory.
COPYRIGHT©
2002 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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