When We Were Kings: "I'm gonna show you, how great I am"

Leon Gast's When We Were Kings is a documentary about the fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire. The documentary format is a departure from the typical boxing film, and shakes up the archetypal boxers story. In addition to the changes in format and structure of the film, having a black protagonist shifts the perspective of the film, much like how Girlfight and Million Dollar Baby did with female boxers.

The film was mainly composed of actual footage of Ali, from press conferences to training sessions to TV recordings, with only a small number of interview shots of relevant people included in. The beginning of the film had a very striking montage integrated into the credits sequence. The documentary style changes the tone of the film, it makes into a retrospective, historical. The use of real footage conveys to the audience that what they are watching is so significant, that no reproduction was necessary, it was all caught on film as it happened. Spike Lee, a famous director, is included in the film as an interviewee, discussing the film and mentions that the current African American youth are often not very knowledgeable about their history and their culture. The film acts then, as a crash course in African American culture, featuring famous musicians, actors, directors, and more, with Muhammad Ali as the centerpiece.

Ali, and his interactions with the world, whether it's the boxing world or his African fans, or his rival, are what this film revolves around. He is constantly featured speaking at length about his technique and his strategy and his training, about the weakness of his enemy and how he will defeat him. Ali's attitudes do not defy the expectations we may have of him as a boxer, who are known to be brash, confident individuals. However, when you consider the time period, Ali's brash, confident, no-shit-taking attitude was inspiring to the African and African-American communities. Here was a man, who wasn't afraid to succeed, who wasn't afraid to go toe-to-toe with society, with Uncle Sam, over what he thought was right. That is the Ali that comes out in the film.

A celebration of their culture, When We Were Kings refuses to conform to accepted norms, refuses to silence loud voices, refuses to censor uncommon behavior. The film is not about Muhammad Ali, he says it himself, he is a tool for "god's work". The film seeks to educate it's audience, not about the situation they're in, not about the pleasant future they might have, but rather about what they are, at their core. A people, with a thriving culture and an important, but oft forgotten history. A history with consequences that linger to this day, in the societal backbone of the United States. The film covers Ali's trip to Zaire, where he is immediately confronted with surprising realities. He encounters a society poorer than his own, but unburdened by systematic racial oppression, and opportunity. This is not to say that Zaire was never the victim of colonialism and all of the horrors that accompanied it, but rather that is was a surprise for Ali to see a world of black pilots and airlines and black business owners,etc. Throughout the film, the message is not that we are all the same, that things can be better, and this will all pass someday. The film aims to show that things are better, in someways elsewhere, and that equality is not the same as sameness. There are important differences between cultures that Ali highlights in one of his speeches, but that rather than being ignored, or suppressed, that these differences should be exposed, celebrated, and respected. That passivity will not bring about better times, only confidence, drive, and self respect can accomplish that. The film educates a generation that might never have known about Ali and what he stood for, using only his actions, and his words.