When We Were Kings (1996)

When We Were Kings is a documentary that looks at the famous 'Rumble In The Jungle' between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. Muhammad Ali is well known as one of the greatest boxers in the world, if not the greatest, a position that was seemingly cemented by this fight where he beat an opponent not through his usual fast paced skills, but through tactical boxing which showed that he was much much more than a one trick pony, but in fact worthy of the titles he received, and an inspirational character to all.

The film itself follows both the run up to, and the fight in a fairly linear fashion, starting with why the fight occurred (both parties agreed to fight for $5million each, and the king of Zaire put up the money for the fight himself to see it. This was just one of many insights into aspects of the fight which had nothing to do with the boxing side of things. The King of Zaire put up the money in an attempt to put Zaire on the map, and increase trade and tourism in the process. Whilst this may not sound like a bad thing, when the people of Zaire were being treated as badly as they were by someone who was essentially a dictator, the fact that many people were living in poverty, yet $10million of public money was being spent on putting on a boxing match is quite frankly staggering.

Ali was however a sportsman who transcends their respective sport. As a boxer he was fantastic, as a personality he was second to none. The footage shown here of a man outside the ring is very telling, he plays up for the cameras, constantly darting around, play fighting with the children of Zaire and it sometimes seems like everything he says is instantly quotable. He makes people like me, who have relatively little interest in sport, and even less interest in boxing, excited about watching a match. In comparison George Foreman is quiet, seemingly quite shy, focused on the fight and well disciplined, and whilst that may make him a better sportsman, it makes him much less interesting to the public, and indeed the people watching this film. Whilst I am certain that Foreman is a nice man, I must say I would be surprised if anyone is watching this film because of him.

So we get footage of Ali talking about the upcoming fight, rallying the local people all of whom support him in his endeavor, this is interspersed with talking heads from the people who were around him at the time, alongside people who simply have an interest in what was happening at the time. This provides a nice look at how Ali may have been feeling outside of the spotlight. For example we get Norman Mailer talking about the punching bag after Foreman had been training having a large dent in the side, and Ali's refusal to look at it, as if he had there was the worry that he would suddenly realise that he couldn't win.

Then we come to the fight itself. We aren't shown the entire fight, more that we are shown the key aspects of it. The opening round where Ali jabs at Foreman with his right (helpfully for those like me who know nothing about the sport it is explained that this is a rare move as it leaves you very vulnerable) and taking him off guard, then it shows us that Foreman, getting angrier with each round just starts laying into Ali, who spends most of the match on the ropes, confusing many spectators who assumed he would be dancing Foreman around the ring. However, as Foreman tires himself out it becomes evident what Ali is doing, and then the moment when Foreman is knocked out is replayed again and again, with different analysis of the event told by various people. It's quite a release to the viewer.

This is one of the great sports documentaries, like Senna last year, it made a sport I had no interest in suddenly fascinating, gave me a valuable insight into the tactics of the sport and kept me truly enthralled throughout. So much so I spent the next couple of days boring everyone I know with the things I learned from this film. Well worth a watch, so you too can bore your friends and family with stuff that is genuinely interesting.