My Father Muhammad Ali (2023)
Directed by Tom Denucci, Chad A. Verdi
Written by Documentary
Starring Muhammad Ali Jr.
Release Date January 13th, 2023
Published January 9th, 2023
As much as I did follow the life of the legendary Muhammad Ali, I was somehow unaware that he had a son. And yet, indeed, the greatest boxer of all time did have a son and he did name that son, Muhammad Ali Jr. How is it possible that he was not part of the story of Muhammad Ali's life? How did it happen that even people like me, people who think they know Muhammad Ali's life story, never knew that he had a son that he named after himself? It's a weird and harrowing story.
Muhammad Ali Jr. was born in 1971, at the height of his father's return to the world stage. Ali had just come out of jail for having refused to go to Vietnam and was fresh off of the first fight against Joe Frazier, billed as The Fight of the Century. Muhammad Ali wasn't around for much of the early part of his son's life as he was training and fighting in the midst of the greatest run of his boxing career. That's not an excuse. I have no idea what kind of Father Muhammad Ali was, only that I know he was a very busy man in the early 1970s/
From the time Muhammad Ali Jr was born through most of his life, he was not much known. According to the new documentary My Father, Muhammad Ali, his teenage years were spent with his mother's parents while his mother and famous father toured the world. In High School, Muhammad Ali Jr. fell into drugs and spent a number of years battling addiction and being estranged from his famous family. He had a family of his own. a couple of daughters from a couple of moms and struggled until not long after his father passed away in 2016.
At some nebulous point following his father's death, Jr beat his addiction and started to use the Ali name to garner attention. This may or may not have been at the behest of a friend, and former New York City Police Officer, named Richard Blum. Together they star in this unusual documentary that follows Muhammad Ali Jr today as he tries to start a boxing-based charity alongside his supposed best friend. The notion of this 'best friend' taking advantage of Ali Jr. hangs thick over My Father, Muhammad Ali.
Part of what makes My Father, Muhammad Ali so strange is the odd structure employed by directors Tom Denucci and Chad A. Verdi. The film opens with them introducing Dr. Monica O'Neal, a psychologist known for her appearances on reality television, as much as for her work as a Harvard graduate and psychologist. She made her name profiling the 'psychology of Bravo,' with special attention to the various cast of Real Housewives of insert large city here.
That's not intended to impugn her integrity as a doctor, it's just what she's known for, your opinion of Real Housewives characters or series, is entirely up to you. Dr. O'Neal is here to examine/interview Muhammad Ali Jr. but that doesn't really happen. What does happen is a series of odd encounters wherein Muhammad Ali Jr. lovingly recalls his father and talks about some of the troubles in his life in relatively vague terms. The film teases talking about Muhammad Ali Jr's daddy issues, but he continues to go back to what a great man and father his legendary father was. O'Neal meanwhile, doesn't make much of an impression.
Find my full length review at Geeks.Media
