Muhammad Ali: The Greatest

Muhammad Ali as a social phenomenon. Muhammad Ali as a media phenomenon. Muhammad Ali as a political phenomenon, as a force shaping national, racial, and cultural identity – as a vindication of difference, as a means of self-determination, as a revolutionary method, as a mode of rebellion. How many varied things he was, the boxer named Cassius Clay, beyond a sporting phenomenon! This superb documentary by William Klein is a meditation on Muhammad Ali as a living intersection of words and movement (he genuinely did always seem to be dancing, and not just when in the ring), and of images, stances, and symbolism brought together within the personality, voice, and body of one person to articulate something far bigger than a human being: the timeless symbol of an indomitable energy striving ever forward, constantly thirsting to surpass itself. Watching Klein’s film, you feel this energy flood you – proof, if needed, that Muhammad Ali is still very much alive, as only legends know how to defy death. Legends, that is, and cinema.