This is an HBO film about heavyweight champion Joe Louis. This film is similar in content to the Ken Burn’s film Unforgivable Blackness, which was about the first black heavyweight boxing champion – Jack Johnson. Joe Louis’s story takes place nineteen years later.
Anyone who pays even a little attention to the world around them knows of the suffering going on in places like Somalia, Uganda, Darfur, and Rwanda. I learned more after reading the book A Long Way Gone, a memoir by Ishmael Beah. Films like Hotel Rwanda and Darfur Now have also brought attention to the plight of the hundreds of thousands of people caught between the rebel fighters and the various military factions. This film takes it to a more personal level.
The main focus of the film is the events leading up to the Apollo 11 space flight. Subsequent flights are talked about out of sequence. The astronauts from the other flights are there mainly to reflect on the historical Apollo11 flight and to relate their personal experiences.
The actual story of Charles’ rapid rise is an interesting one and it’s told in a compelling way. But the fact that he has never been to prison and that Griselda, who is personally responsible for hundreds of murders, is now free because of a sex scandal in the prosecutors office leaves you with the impression that justice has not been served.
Dorian Paskowitz is a successfull doctor with a promising future. He becomes disilusioned with his life when he discovers that his wife is cheating on him. A second marriage also ends in divorce. This sets him on a quest for the meaning of life. What he decides is that happiness and health are not dependent on wealth but in living a life free of the pressures of modern day society.
The access that Eleanor had to Francis gives this film an edge over similar making of films. You get to see and hear Francis as he struggles with the many obstacles facing him: finances, politics, logistics, etc. I didn’t know, for example, that Francis had his own assets at risk should the film flop.