Klitschko - The Documentary (in movie theaters)

Two brothers, four fists, no hallelujah



Source: http://www.stern.de/kultur/film/kli...eder-vier-faeuste-kein-halleluja-1672281.html

Video (in german): http://www.stern.de/kultur/film/fil...eder-boxen-sich-auf-die-leinwand-1672388.html

Translation:

He can still clearly remember the moment when he heard for the first time the sound of a fist in gloves landing on a human head. It was "unpleasant" and "so brutal," says Wladimir Klitschko, heavyweight champion and one-half of the Klitschko-package. The brothers Wladimir and Vitali are a phenomenon, allegedly they have a recognition rate of 99 percent in Germany, which is why you can see them now in theaters. Dr. Steel Hammer and Dr. Ironfist came to Berlin on Thursday to present "Klitschko", a documentary about the way the two-meter-brothers went, who made it from Ukraine into the boxing rings of the world.

Director Sebastian Dehnhardt ("The Miracle of Bern") has put together an impressive piece of sporting history that tells mainly about the people involved. The audience is close up there (perhaps a little too close) when Vitalis eye is bleeding in the fight against Lennox Lewis or when Wladimir triumphed after a bitter fight against Sam Peter; but also when father Klitschko recounts how he was called to duty as a soldier to Chernobyl, which ties the athletes portrait to world history. The family used to live in Kiev, just 100 kilometers from where the reactor exploded. All this is packed into images that are sometimes quite rational, sometimes emotionally, sometimes nostalgic; images that manage to melt their biographies somehow into one single biography. Their biggest advantage against their opponents is that they are brothers, Wladimir says at the beginning of the film. The other brother is always in the ring also, in spirit.

Why now?

There has been quite a few attempts to translate the exceptional careers of the brothers into a movie. But it never worked out, the Klitschkos say, relaxing in jeans (both), jacket (Vitali) and sweater (Wladimir), sitting there humbly but confidently. It was crucial that they got along well with the filmmaker, says Wladimir in his famous Klitschko-Style German, and he is still shocked about some of the videos the director managed to dig out. He was unaware of the recordings of Vitali, who as a teenager visited Florida with his kick-boxing club once.


"Boxing is our life, but our lifes is not just boxing," added Vitali. "The aim was to show our lives." And therefore, the crises were not left out. Then they talk a lot about the seriousness of boxing, which is different than other sports, because boxing is not just a game. A portion of testosterone pathos swirls around the room. But still the movie has not become a Hallejula jubilation.

"We are human"

They dodge the question regarding the tragic fate of Parkinson-ill Uber-boxer Muhammad Ali, and wether or not they are afraid. There is no evidence for a link between boxing and his condition, Wladimir says [EDIT: "A causal connection between the sport and his medical condition has not been verified." /EDIT] But because the brothers are very smart too, he argues that one must overcome his own limits in order to reach the peak of his abilities.
"We know the danger. Everyone has to decide for himself how far one wants to push it."


Vitali wants to do away with prejudices about boxers. "We are human. We remain human the ring, a boxer feels pain and has emotions. Despite of our sporty ambitions we sympathize with our opponents."


At the end this simple question comes up: Why boxing and not, for example, football? Wladimir looks at his big brother and smiles: "He started it, I copied it."


"Klitschko" will be in theaters on 16 June