The new documentary film about the world heavyweight boxing champions Klitschko brothers lasts 117 minutes.
And only 10 minutes are devoted to Ukrainian politics, the arena where older brother Vitali will apply himself when he retires from the ring. Still, there is little doubt that Dr. Ironfist, as he is known, will be accused of producing a movie to help his electioneering efforts.
Vitali Klitschko plans to run again for mayor of Kyiv in an election this summer. His UDAR party, which is translated into English as “punch,” will also run in parliamentary elections scheduled for Oct. 28.
In remarks to journalists during the March 12 premiere in Ukraine Theater, Vitali Klitschko talked about his political ambitions. “Politics takes 90 percent of my time now. But I’m already 40, and it’s time to leave the ring. Soon politics will take 100 percent of my time,” the elder Klitschko said.
Vitali, the current World Boxing Council world heavyweight champion, will have to work hard in politics to match his success in boxing. His brother Vladimir, 35, recently knocked out Jean-Marc Mormeck to retain his four boxing crowns.
German Sebastian Dehnhardt’s film “Klitschko” follows the brothers’ pugilist careers from their military childhood (their father, a Soviet Air Force colonel and Chornobyl cleanup veteran, died last year) and demonstrates that these men are really great athletes who have known not only victories, but defeats and triumphant comebacks.
Vitali and Vladimir Klitschko gave a talk about their lives and careers at the premiere of the German documentary about the boxing brothers on March 12. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
The film was ambitious in following the Klitschkos for two years and in capturing interesting moments of their lives. The documentary makers also found a boatload of archival material of the brothers’ early years. Fans will enjoy scenes of a young and lean-as-a-rake Vitali as part of a Soviet team of kick boxers in Florida.
Also striking is the story of Vladimir, who visits the family’s rundown former house near near Zhuliany Airport. The younger world champion recalls his close brushes with the Chornobyl nuclear plant fallout, including radioactive dust from helicopters that flew from the contaminated zone.
“Klitschko is about how two guys managed to get much in their lives,” Dehnhardt said at the premiere. “Everything that they got is because of their parents and the way they brought up. Their family plays a big role.”
The film director accents the way brothers contend with adversity. He shows professional boxing realistically. Attention is paid to the powerhouse punches and what happens to the face that suffers them.
Klitschko is about how two guys managed to get much in their lives,” Dehnhardt said at the premiere. “Everything that they got is because of their parents and the way they brought up. Their family plays a big role.
– Sebastian Dehnhard, film director
There are thrilling close-ups of Vitali during his dramatic 2003 fight with Lennox Lewis. However, Dehnhardt makes the case that the brothers box intellectually, along with their brute force, especially Vladimir, whose approach in the ring is chess-like.
“Good fighters and sons. They speak foreign languages and hold Ph.D.s,” their admirers say. Among them are Lewis himself, who defeated Vitali in the classic 2003 bout. There is a feeling, however, that the film overdoes admiring comments.
“Klitschko is about how two guys managed to get much in their lives,” Dehnhardt said at the premiere. “Everything that they got is because of their parents and the way they brought up. Their family plays a big role.”
The fleeting political moments show Vitali Klitschko as a hero trying to reform Ukraine’s corrupt politics (personified in the documentary by Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky and the mayoral bloc deputies who stormed the presidium of the Kyiv city council only to be confronted by the towering Vitali. By contrast, Vladimir, nicknamed Dr. Steelhammer, is staying away from politics.
Whatever happens to Vitali’s political career, the hardscrabble profession of boxing will be poorer and lose a lot of class after he leaves. But Klitschko fans could still be cheering both of them for years to come – one in the political ring and one in the boxing ring.
“Klitschko” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in Manhattan before being presented in Germany, where the brothers fight and live part-time.
“Klitschko” which opened in theater Ukraine, is showing in Kyiv and Megaplex theaters. The film will be presented all over Ukraine.
Kyiv Post staff writer Denis Rafalsky can be reached at [email protected].
