thomas4cinema

Mike Tyson recounts his life, from being the fat little boy victim of bullyism to being the unbeatable heavyweight boxing champion of the World. The film only has Tyson talking, with archive footage reminding the audience of the actually quite incredible things he did in the ring. I had not seen most of it, as the Tyson matches were on pay tv only, and noone in our family was interested enough to actually spend money on this. But his speed, his physical shape, his wild and seemingly untamable (though we learn that is not true, that it is part of his fighting tactis, and well designed to evoke fear and panic) attack against his opponents – stunning!
There is not much context here: Tyson calling his alleged rape vicitm a lying swine and his former wife a gold-digger, him stating that his longtime coach has saved his life by making him a professional athlete … it is all “what you hear is what you get”, there is no subtext to what he tells, it is the voice of a little, not too bright boy who has been around a bit, who is star-stunned by himself and the people he shook hands with, but who still has not learned that all the humiliation and exposure to the wide gaping mouths of the hungry media is not a downside of his job, but actually its core, the essence of why stars are allowed to be stars – as the filmspotting crew called it in their podcast: you are getting so incredibly rich and famous only if you sell your soul, and once they have bought it off you, they are happy to shred it to pieces, because raping girls, divorcing women, biting off ears only make you more interesting for them. This business maybe made him survive, but he paid a high price for that.