The Clash of Nations: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, on History

Today, boxing has two competing heavy weight champions, holding various different belts, but a lot of sports fans couldn’t name either of them. In contrast, in the 1930s, nobody followed basketball or soccer, but everyone knew who was heavy weight champ. Consequently, it meant something whether that pugilist paragon was American or German. The so-called “Rumble in the Jungle” was certainly a huge media event in 1974, but the Louis-Schmeling rematch was truly the fight of the century, which boxing historians and (Louis) Barrow family members remember and explain throughout The Clash of Nations: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, directed by Nikki Spetseris, which premieres this Friday on History Channel.

Even adjusted for inflation, professional athletes never scored million-dollar contracts in the 1930s. However, a son of share-cropping former slaves like Joe Louis Barrow quickly discovered he could make good money in the ring once his family moved north. It was not easy for black fighter to move up the rankings during the post-Jack Johnson era, but not impossible. Indeed, Louis quickly became a leading contender.

Fittingly, Spetseris and company devote a good deal of time to the fight that cemented Louis’s reputation and offered a preview of the Louis-Schmeling match-ups. The American fighter faced Primo Carnera, who served as Mussolini’s proxy champion in much the same way Schmeling would (perhaps somewhat reluctantly) for Hitler. Black Americans already identified with Louis, but they also resented Italian military adventurism in Ethiopia, during the months leading up to the full-scale invasion. Consequently, the Louis-Carnera fight aroused great passions.

Likewise, non-religious Jewish champion Max Baer made no secret of what he thought of National Socialist Germany during his victory over Schmeling—another historically significant bu largely forgotten bout also covered during the History program. On the other hand, Louis’s first fight against Schmeling is well-documented, because it did not go as he hoped, but it set-up a rematch of Rocky IV dimensions.

Every boxing fan agrees Louis deserved better. After representing the free world in the ring against Schmeling and serving in uniform during WWII, he was hounded into bankruptcy by the shameful IRS. (If ever there was an agency to abolish, that would be it.) As you would expect, Spetseris and company duly decry Southern segregation, which was initially facilitated by Woodrow Wilson—perhaps one reason why Louis often supported Republicans—a fact Clash of Nations ignores.

Panorama Europe ’18: The Maltese Fighter (short)

During WWII, the residents of Malta were collectively awarded the George Cross for their brave defiance of the Axis onslaught. Sadly, they were not so united in the 1970s, when Labour Prime Minister Dom Mintoff and his allies employed political violence and strong-arm techniques to consolidate their grip on power. For an unemployed boxer, political thuggery is the only position open to him, but it comes at the cost of his soul in Arev Manoukian’s The Maltese Fighter (trailer here), which screens as part of a program of Maltese short films during this year’s Panorama Europe at MoMI.

Carmelo is a warrior in the ring, but it provides little compensation for the single father. His shipyard job did not bring in much more, while he had it. It is 1971 and a new administration has taken over. Known supporters of Mintoff’s critics are in for it. Carmelo is imminently qualified to bash them black-and-blue, but he is awkwardly recognizable. He has a crisis of conscience after only one night, but his new masters will inevitably come around again with another list of names to visit.

Fighter is a visually a striking film that fully capitalizes on Valetta’s stunning harborscape and its gritty back alleys. Cinematographer Matthew Emvin Taylor, gives it a golden hue, with an ominous tint. If ever there were a film with a keen sense of place, this would be it.

Perhaps just as importantly, Malcom Ellul, who has mainly played gladiators and centurions up to this point, gives a remarkable performance as the guilt-wracked Carmelo. He is no mere side of beef. This is sensitive, subtly turned work. Yet, he is also clearly physically cut, so he looks mucho convincing in the boxing ring.

This is a powerful cinematic statement that directly addresses a violent era many would prefer to whitewash and water-down. Indeed, it serves as an uncomfortable reminder, like a punch-drunk fighter who refuses to go down. It is also quite a bold showcase for the talents of Manoukian, Ellul, Taylor, and the rest of the ensemble. Very highly recommended, The Maltese Fighter screens this Saturday (5/19), as part of the 2018 Panorama Europe.

Tribeca ’17: Chuck

His story might sound familiar, but it is important to understand he is the original article. New Jersey’s own Chuck Wepner was the inspiration for Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky and by extension, dozens of underdog boxer-wrestler-mixed martial artist films. Wepner was uncharitably known as the “Bayonne Bleeder” due to his unfortunate propensity to suffer cuts in the ring, but nobody ever questioned his toughest. Take a trip back to the 1970s to revisit the grunge and the glory of boxing at the peak of its popularity in Philippe Falardeau’s Chuck (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York following its U.S. premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.

Wepner’s skills were never that spectacular, but his cement head and dogged determination won him enough fights to eventually rank him in the top ten. He just so happened to be the top-ranked white guy just when Muhammad Ali and Don King were looking for a low-stress title defense they could racially hype. However, Wepner turned out to be one of the few “Great White Hopes” in the history of boxing who exceeded expectations. Of course, he never came close to winning, but he hung in there, making it one of Ali’s ugliest victories ever.

He was already a local celebrity in Jersey, but Wepner’s gutty performance made him a minor media celebrity for fifteen minutes. Inevitably, it goes to his head, costing him his marriage to the long-suffering Phyl. Yet, just like the movie boxers he inspired, Wepner would have a chance at redemption, but he would have to look outside the ring.

Chuck (a.k.a. The Bleeder) is a terrific sports biopic that hits all the right notes. Falardeau and his design team capture all the grit and sleaze of the 1970s, cruelly inflicting a relentlessly era-appropriate wardrobe on the big-name cast. The Monsieur Lazhar helmer sure-footedly balances the outrageousness of Wepner’s frequently over-the-top persona (the film opens in media res with an aging Wepner’s barfight with a trained bear) and the grimy realism of the Jersey milieu.

Liev Schreiber (the bane of auto-spelling corrections) is also pitch-perfect as Wepner. He lays out all of the fighter’s myriad character flaws for all to see, but he also connects with Wepner’s insecurities. Schrieber develops potent but utterly believable chemistry with both Elizabeth Moss (who is utterly devastating when tearing into the cheating Wepner in a pivotal fall-from-grace scene) and a nearly unrecognizable Naomi Watts, playing the woman who stood by Wepner at his lowest moments. Plus, for even further hardnosed attitude, the great Ron Perlman does his thing as Wepner’s grizzled trainer-manager, Al Braverman.

Chuck the film is too honest and bittersweet to indulge in phony triumphalism, but it is still a great deal of fun. If you have ever enjoyed any of the Rocky, Penitentiary, Best of the Best, or Karate Kid franchises, you really ought to check out Chuck, because it is the real deal. Thoroughly entertaining, Chuck opens this Friday (5/5) in New York, at the AMC Loews Lincoln Square uptown and the Regal Union Square downtown, following its American premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

Looking for Rocky in Sichuan: China Heavyweight

Life in China must be improving.  They now have round-card girls.  Decades ago, Mao banned Olympic-style boxing on the grounds it was too western and excessively violent.  He then launched the Cultural Revolution.  Legalized in 1986, the Chinese boxing authorities are now taking a long view, recruiting potential Olympians at the middle school level.  Yung Chang follows a contender turned coach and two of his fighters in China Heavyweight (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York at the IFC Center.

Boxing is an attractive alternative to working in the tobacco fields for many of the students in the Sichuan countryside.  The sport has become a way of life for Coach Qi Moxiang.  He recruits young boxers, both boys and girls, and directly oversees their training.  He is tough, but popular with his charges.

At first, Chang’s primary POV figures appear to be He Zongli and Miao Yunfei, two boxers about to graduate to the regional level of competition.  We see a fair amount of training and the mean condition of life in the province that they hope to escape.  However, Heavyweight kicks into narrative gear about halfway through, when Qi decides to return to the ring to face a Japanese belt-holder.  Suddenly, there is a traditional underdog boxing story unfolding in Sichuan.

Heavyweight is highly attuned to the economic disparities of contemporary China as well as the conflicts between tradition and the drive to modernize.  However, Chang largely overlooks Sichuan’s recent tragic history.  Rocked by an earthquake in May of 2008, anger boiled over at the local authorities for allowing the shoddy construction practices that acerbated its deadly toll.  Sichuan could use a champion, but that might not be in the interests of the vested establishment.

Still, Chang has a good handle of the conventions of boxing movies, capturing some dramatic ringside action.  There is even a scene of Qi’s boxers running up a series of ancient steps that echoes a certain film from 1976.  He and cinematographer Sun Shaoguang also convey the harsh and lonely beauty of the surrounding terraced landscape.  Viewers get a viewers sense of the milieu, but besides Qi, the boxers’ personalities are not so strongly delineated (He is the shy one, while Miao is the slightly more confident one).

Shifting from an observational doc into old fashioned sports story, Heavyweight becomes more engaging as it goes along.  The development of organizing boxing post-Maoist insanity is a story worth telling, but as a socio-economic investigation, it is not nearly as telling a raft of recent depressing Chinese documentaries, such as Zhao Liang’s jaw-dropping expose Petition, or the uncomfortably intimate Last Train Home, helmed by Heavyweight co-executive producer Lixin Fan.  Oddly recommended more for the audience of HBO’s Real Sports than for serious China watchers, China Heavyweight opens this Friday (7/6) at the IFC Center.

Ibermedia at MoMA: La Yuma

At the current exchange rate, a million dollar baby would be about 22,895,000 Cordoba in Nicaragua. Don’t call for aspiring boxer Virginia “La Yuma, the Wildcat” Roa that. She is not exactly Rocky either. Still, she intends to fight her way out of the Managua barrio in Florence Jaugey’s La Yuma (trailer here), a Nicaraguan production supported by Ibermedia, which screens as part of Iberoamérican Images, MoMA's retrospective tribute to the Iberian and Latin American film consortium.

La Yuma is in with a gang, but he heart is in boxing. Waging a cold war with her mother’s loutish live-in boyfriend, her home life is not great, but it fuels her training. Her punk brother does not make things any easier. Yet, he inadvertently precipitates her class-spanning romance when Yuma returns a computer disk to Ernesto, the university student he mugged. With one of Managua’s top trainers taking her on, things appear to be on track for Yuma, but the gang still considers her one of their own.

While not a boxing film in the tradition of Cinderella Man, La Yuma does not cheat fans of the gentlemanly art of self-defense, including one full length four-round amateur bout, as well as a generous helping of sparring. The “Wildcat,” played by Alma Blanco, is an engaging underdog, small but quick, with convincing technique and footwork. She is quite a good romantic lead as well, tough and tender in her scenes with Ernesto.

Indeed, Blanco has star power, but her partner, not so much. However, Eliézer Traña has an undeniable presence as Yader, her former trainer, an unusually well developed platonic best friend character, who also offers something for the ladies as a part-time cut-rate Chippendale dancer.

La Yuma is gritty and naturalistic, but Jaugey wisely resists the temptation to revel in the meanness of the barrio. Rather, she keeps things moving along at a healthy clip. In fact, she throws the audience a third act curve ball that might confuse some viewers (since it leaves many subplots unresolved), but is actually quite satisfying.

Jaugey’s film would make an interesting pairing with Gerardo Chijona Valdes’ Ticket to Paradise, which also screens during the Ibermedia retrospective at MoMA. In both films, young protagonists adopt unconventional strategies to get out of their present circumstances. However, both the conditions and method of escape are far more desperate in 1980’s Cuba than contemporary Nicaragua. A visceral portrait social menace and decay, Ticket is not exactly effective propaganda for the current regime, so presumably the support of Ibermedia must have been instrumental to its production.

Sort of a film of empowerment, but in a scrupulously realistic way, La Yuma is definitely recommended when it screens again this Thursday (12/8). Ticket is also well worth seeing when it screens this Friday (12/9) and the following Sunday (12/11) as part of Iberoamérican Images, now underway at MoMA.

Brothers, Champions, Sportsmen: Klitschko

Mother Klitschko is no fun. She expressly prohibited her boxer sons Vitali and Wladimir from fighting each other. Of course, that is exactly what the boxing world wants to see. Sebastian Dehnhardt profiles the two well educated Ukrainian brothers who rose to the top of the boxing ranks, got knocked down, and clawed their way back in the simply but aptly titled documentary Klitschko (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Growing up military brats, the Klitschko brothers’ father was an ardent Communist. However, he would pay for his blind faith, when his unit responded to the Chernobyl crisis without adequate protective gear. Fortunately, when his cancer inevitably surfaced, the Klitschkos already had sufficient means to provide their father with the best of western medicine. Not coincidentally, the now cancer-free Col. Klitschko has had a complete ideological change of heart, at least according to his sons.

Though not technically twins, the Klitschko boys were always big and nearly impossible to tell apart. The older Vitali actually started out as a kick-boxer while so-called “Western martial arts” were forbidden in the Orwellian Soviet Union. Eventually, the Klitschkos switched to boxing, where fighters could make serious money. Due to inopportune injuries, they lost several high profile bouts they should have won. The elder Klitschko was especially dogged by the quitter epithet. Yet, both brothers would have their Rocky moments in the ring.

Klitschko the film is definitely produced with boxing fans in mind. However, those who follow post-Soviet politics will also find Dehnhardt’s documentary engaging. A reformer, the elder Klitschko was even elected to the Kiev City Council for two stormy terms. It also offers an illuminating perspective on the Chernobyl crisis, which is still not well understood in the west.

Not surprisingly, Dehnhardt shows a whole lot of fight scenes, but he lucidly establishes the dramatic import of each match and the quality of the footage is uniformly high. When a Klitschko connects, it definitely looks like it hurts. In addition to the Klitschkos and their parents, he also includes extensive commentary from their contemporaries in the ring, many of whom, like Chris Byrd (and his young son) are truly gracious sportsmen on-camera. Frankly, the film has no villains, per se (except perhaps the delegate who inexplicably took a swing at Vitali Kilitschko during a heated council session). Indeed, Dehnhardt argues the lack of a flashy nemesis has prevented the pugilist brothers from getting their proper due. Of course, they can hardly go back in time and fight Ali in his prime.

While they are certainly imposing, the Brothers Klitschko are clearly smart and articulate, shrewdly making the effort to connect with the film’s audience. Briskly paced and quite informative, Klitschko was easily the most entertaining documentary at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Highly recommended, it opens theatrically this Friday (10/21) in New York at the AMC Empire.

Coming Soon: Orthodox Stance

Despite million dollar purses and enormous pay-per-view revenue, boxing does not have the prestige it once carried. NY1’s sports call-in host Tom McDonald is one of boxing’s greatest boosters in the city, frequently inviting local contenders on his show, which is where I first heard of Dmitriy Salita. Now patrons of the upcoming New York Jewish Film Festival, and Cinema Village on the 25th, will have the chance to meet Salita through Jason Hutt’s documentary Orthodox Stance.

Sometimes billing himself as “The Star of David,” Salita has maintained his orthodox faith in the very worldly sport of boxing. Salita’s family immigrated to America from Odessa, Ukraine to avoid anti-Semitism while Salita was still in grade school. In fact, Salita attributes much of his drive to succeed in boxing to the poverty and social awkwardness of his first years in America.

Stance follows Salita through the early years of his career, culminating with an important bout for a stepping stone title belt. Boxing has a checkered reputation, but Salita’s first promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, actually comes off well in the film for his accommodations of Salita’s orthodox observances. The jury seems to still be out on his current promoter, Lou DiBella.

Salita certainly has an interesting story. Though his family is Jewish, they were not particularly observant. Salita came to Orthodox Judaism on his own accord, during a period of family crisis. To Stance’s credit, it respects Salita’s religious convictions and does not treat his Orthodox advisors as caricatures. As we see in the film, keeping kosher is no small feat in hotel rooms in Vegas or Puerto Rico.

In many ways Salita is a very refreshing sports personality. In addition to being a man of religious conviction, Salita conveys a sense of patriotism as well. While still relatively fresh on the scene, he has built a solid following and has even secured endorsement opportunities. As a result, Salita often echoes Don King’s “only in America” sentiments, expressing gratitude for the opportunities he found here.

At one point we see a genuinely respectful Salita and his manager Israel Liberow attending a Hanukkah reception hosted by President and Mrs. Bush. His advisor (and sort of trainer-emeritus) Jimmy O’Pharrow expresses sentiments to the effect that regardless of what you think whoever happens to be President, being invited to the White House is a meaningful event. It is that general lack of cynicism that marks both Salita and Stance, making the documentary of interest to viewers who ordinarily have little enthusiasm for boxing.

It is far from a foregone conclusion that Salita is destined to be a major champion. However, he has built a substantial fan-base—much of which Stance shows comes from the Jewish community and his Brooklyn neighborhood. We even see Matisyahu, the soon to be Grammy nominated Hasidic reggae and rap star, performing for Salita before his important title fight.

Salita might be what boxing needs: a likeable potential champion, with deeply held values. He is definitely well represented in Stance. It will screen as part of the upcoming New York Jewish Film Festival, before starting a New York run at Cinema Village on January 25th.