This film did have the potential to be a disaster – one that left the filmmaker with hours and hours of relatively worthless material to try and somehow salvage back into a film. When making a documentary about a person and coming at it with so much access to the subject that the subject is essentially narrating his own story one always runs the risk that the film ends up being horribly biased, factually questionable and almost a chance for the subject to put their own spin on everything that had gone before. We sort of saw that in the Errol Morris film Fog of War and early scenes in this film suggest that Tyson is going to be allowed to have his say.
And indeed this is how the whole film is structured – the narration and discussion all comes from Tyson himself. Again the risk here is that the film is biased and spun to his advantage and, to a certain degree there is a bit of truth to that because Tyson doesn't have warts and all facts, or allow for multiple points of view and, while it doesn't need you to be a big boxing fan, you need to have at least a casual knowledge of Tyson's life so that you do not end up accepting everything he says as fact. This might all sound like a pretty massive flaw in a documentary about Tyson (indeed one-sidedness and misrepresentation can kill a documentary) but it is not and the reason it is not is Tyson himself.
Throughout the film Tyson is reasonably self-reflective and honest as he talks through his life to this point with particular focus on the headline events such as his rape conviction, the biting, his biggest wins, his biggest losses, his marriage to Robin Givens and so on. It is this level of thoughtful reflection and honesty that makes the film so gripping – and it is gripping, even to someone like me who has little interest in boxing outside of the odd headline fight. As he talks you not only get the words he is saying telling you about the thing he is discussing but you also get to pick up a lot from the words he chooses to use, the inflection he gives them, the things he appears upset about, the things he appears angry about, the things he appears vague about and so on. The most touching example of this is when he discusses his early career and the affection he has for the trainer who took him under his wing – it is very moving and you get the impression that even Tyson himself knows that things might have been different had death not taken him away. This section also reveals a continued thread of Tyson being alone, scared and unable to trust – sometimes it seems he uses this as a defence but mostly it comes over as genuine.
Of course you also get the opposite situation where he does get to have his say without any counter opinion. Specifically this is on the rape issue, his marriage and anything else he has been accused or criticised for over his years. To me though this is not a massive problem for three reasons. Firstly, anyone with a casual following of Tyson via the media will have already had a fairly strong case made to them from the "other" side of the argument. Secondly this film isn't really about the detail of any single event so much as it is a character study, thus debating over events would eat up time for little benefit. Thirdly, Tyson is not convincing when denying or defending things and indeed much of the film's attraction is the fact that he is very open when not talking specifically about an event. This third reason is the big one because while he is in "shields up" mode when discussing how he was in his marriage to Givens, he is certainly not guarded when discussing his attitude towards sex, nor his strength of feeling when discussing specific people – certainly one is left with the impression that this is someone with a lot of issues relating to women.
Buy yet the whole thing manages to come over as engaging and moving as a character study. If Tyson's goal was to get redemption and spin history in his favour then he has failed but this film will certainly help how people view him. The fight footage is well used to show us what an awesome, powerful and vicious fighter he was while his life and his own words reveal a man with demons and problems who deserves some understanding if not necessarily sympathy or forgiveness. The end result is a great character study that is not the place to come for a factual and balanced look at Tyson's career but is an engaging and revealing discussion with the man himself. Well worth seeing even if you are not a boxing fan.
And indeed this is how the whole film is structured – the narration and discussion all comes from Tyson himself. Again the risk here is that the film is biased and spun to his advantage and, to a certain degree there is a bit of truth to that because Tyson doesn't have warts and all facts, or allow for multiple points of view and, while it doesn't need you to be a big boxing fan, you need to have at least a casual knowledge of Tyson's life so that you do not end up accepting everything he says as fact. This might all sound like a pretty massive flaw in a documentary about Tyson (indeed one-sidedness and misrepresentation can kill a documentary) but it is not and the reason it is not is Tyson himself.
Throughout the film Tyson is reasonably self-reflective and honest as he talks through his life to this point with particular focus on the headline events such as his rape conviction, the biting, his biggest wins, his biggest losses, his marriage to Robin Givens and so on. It is this level of thoughtful reflection and honesty that makes the film so gripping – and it is gripping, even to someone like me who has little interest in boxing outside of the odd headline fight. As he talks you not only get the words he is saying telling you about the thing he is discussing but you also get to pick up a lot from the words he chooses to use, the inflection he gives them, the things he appears upset about, the things he appears angry about, the things he appears vague about and so on. The most touching example of this is when he discusses his early career and the affection he has for the trainer who took him under his wing – it is very moving and you get the impression that even Tyson himself knows that things might have been different had death not taken him away. This section also reveals a continued thread of Tyson being alone, scared and unable to trust – sometimes it seems he uses this as a defence but mostly it comes over as genuine.
Of course you also get the opposite situation where he does get to have his say without any counter opinion. Specifically this is on the rape issue, his marriage and anything else he has been accused or criticised for over his years. To me though this is not a massive problem for three reasons. Firstly, anyone with a casual following of Tyson via the media will have already had a fairly strong case made to them from the "other" side of the argument. Secondly this film isn't really about the detail of any single event so much as it is a character study, thus debating over events would eat up time for little benefit. Thirdly, Tyson is not convincing when denying or defending things and indeed much of the film's attraction is the fact that he is very open when not talking specifically about an event. This third reason is the big one because while he is in "shields up" mode when discussing how he was in his marriage to Givens, he is certainly not guarded when discussing his attitude towards sex, nor his strength of feeling when discussing specific people – certainly one is left with the impression that this is someone with a lot of issues relating to women.
Buy yet the whole thing manages to come over as engaging and moving as a character study. If Tyson's goal was to get redemption and spin history in his favour then he has failed but this film will certainly help how people view him. The fight footage is well used to show us what an awesome, powerful and vicious fighter he was while his life and his own words reveal a man with demons and problems who deserves some understanding if not necessarily sympathy or forgiveness. The end result is a great character study that is not the place to come for a factual and balanced look at Tyson's career but is an engaging and revealing discussion with the man himself. Well worth seeing even if you are not a boxing fan.