“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Who can forget about one of the most iconic catch phrases in sports history? Muhammad Ali is one of the most highly publicized and vocal athletes of all-time, and yet there are still many attributes about him that remain unknown or under-reported. “I Am Ali” takes the viewers on an in depth journey of Ali as a fighter, social activist, father, and lover. The Focus World project directed by Clare Lewins, emphasizes shedding light on Muhammad Ali the man, and is centered on personal recorded conversations between Ali his family, friends, and even opponents. These very intimate conversations are quite revealing about the things in Ali’s personal life that mattered to him the most.
The conversation from the movie that stood out the most to me was one that Ali had with his eldest daughter Maryum “May May” Ali, in which he talked about life purpose.
“So everything the God made, the cows, horses, the moon, stars, ants, everything has a purpose,” Ali tells Maryum. “Now what’s your purpose? You’re a human being. If God made the sun have a purpose, humans have a purpose too. You haven’t found your life purpose yet have you?”
“Yes,” she replies.
“If everybody was born for a purpose, what do you think you were born for?”
“To make people feel better,” Maryum answers. “To fix people up.”
“That’s good,” Ali says proudly. “That’s good, Maryum.”
I was very fortunate enough to be able to interview May May Ali and ask her about that particular phone conversation, and she enlightened me on how profound her father was as a person.
“He was profound in his social activism, profound in his religious belief, and even profound as a father” “He engaged us in very intelligent and critical thinking ways” May May Ali said.
The eldest of Ali’s 9 children, May May said that this documentary stood apart from all other works of her father.
“Ali docs are always good because he’s a great subject,” she said. “But with this one, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s a whole different angle and different feel.’ The father side has never been told. People just overlooked it.”
It was not enough for Muhammad Ali to be one of the pound-for-pound greatest boxers of all time, but he also was a very big proponent of an existentialistic belief of everyone having a life purpose, and his purpose was to be more than just a man who fought for pay.
Ali has served many purposes in his life. At the age of 12 he fell in love with boxing and used that as a means to an end of impacting the world. Ali stood up for his religious beliefs by changing his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali and also by refusing to enlist in the US Army and fight in the Vietnam War “I got no quarrel with Vietcong… No Vietcong ever called me Nigger” Ali is famously quoted as saying.
Ali was a part of a generation where black athletes of the 60’s and 70’s stood up for what they believed in without fear of hurting their “brands.” In 1967 at a meeting of the Negro Industrial and Economic Union fellow athletes Jim Brown, Bill Russell, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were among the highly touted black athletes to hear Ali’s wisdom for rejecting the Vietnam War draft. These fellow men, and athletes, endorsed and supported Ali’s decision and rallied to his defense. “I Am Ali” covers the struggles that Ali was going through during this time in his life, and include interviews and commentary from Jim Brown, his friends, and family to give a vivid perspective.
The documentary also portrays Ali in a realistic light when it comes to his marital life, Ali has been married 4 times, and has 9 children. Ali was no saint as far as being a devoted husband, and the documentary does not sugar coat his extra-marital affairs. In that sense Ali was laying the groundwork for the basis of the quintessential 21st century athlete. It must be hard to be a world-famous figure, traveling all over the world, spending months at a time away from your significant other yet maintaining a faithful relationship. Ali lived the non-traditional family life during the 70’s and 80’s the way that a lot of athletes and even regular Americans live now. The thing that was made very clear about Ali was the love and devotion that he had for his kids, the love he expressed for strangers, the love of boxing, and the moral conviction to stand up for what he believed.
The once famously quotable Ali is now mostly silent due to his battle with Parkinson’s disease, and was not able to heavily participate in the filming of the movie. When I spoke to May May Ali, we discussed how difficult it has been for her father the last 30 years fighting Parkinson’s. She explained to me how critical the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta was so important to Ali.
“For the first time in his life, he felt out of control. He didn’t want to the people of the world to see him in a vulnerable state, but after he lit the torch in Atlanta, it opened him back up to the world”
Not only did it unveil Muhammad Ali in a new light to the world, but it also opened up the door for dialogue about the Parkinson’s disease. Muhammad Ali being so open about his condition has given hope to many who suffer from Parkinson’s and has been the inspiration behind millions of dollars of research funds to combat the disease. Parkinson’s may have taken away Ali’s tangible voice, but the voice on those recording will live on forever. “I Am Ali” shares his most personal and intimate conversations with the world, they are the clues that uncover the greatness of the fighter and the man.
“I Am Ali” releases in theaters and on-demand October 10, 2014. Watch the trailer for “I Am Ali” below: