London Film Festival: Tyson

Everyone thinks they know Iron Mike Tyson. We all know the tale of the delinquent teenager, saved by a natural talent for boxing that took him to the very top of the sport in flamboyant style. Then we know of the downfall: a conviction for rape, reports of domestic abuse, boxing matches spilling out of the ring and into the real world, and of course, the biting of Holyfield's ear. Tyson went from being seen as a masterful professional sportsman to a crazed animal on the path to self-destruction. James Toback's documentary attempts, if not to set the record straight, to at least allow Tyson to put his side of his story across. The direction is at times exhilarating, with snappily edited archival fight footage, but the way Toback pieces together the central interview with Tyson is often quite intrusive - Tyson is a mesmerising enough interviewee who doesn't need stylistic tricks like splitscreen shots and overlapping soundbites to keep an audience interested in listening to him.

This is wholly Tyson's film; no other interviewees are present, and save for the occasional newsreel and fight commentary, he's the singular voice. But what a voice it is. Tyson is a commanding speaker, articulating himself in a mix of street vernacular and new age philosophy, and though there's obviously a degree of worry in allowing such a controversial figure free reign, the film lays it's subjectivity right out there from the get-go, allowing the audience to ultimately decide where they feel the truth lies.

Tyson never portrays himself as a saint; he is as aware as the audience of his deficiencies, but clearly sees this film as an opportunity to set the record straight about people might perceive him. He alleges for instance that his biting of Evander Holyfield's ear was prompted by the inaction of the referee against Holyfield repeatedly headbutting him. He also vehemently denies that he was a rapist. The result is that this isn't always a comfortable watch, with affection and dislike for Tyson swinging from moment to moment (any moment when he discusses women or sex is particularly uncomfortable) but there's also the sense that this is someone who was shaped by an impoverished background, forced to carry its burden to this day. The child of a broken home in the housing projects of 70s Brooklyn, Tyson led a daily fight for survival where he had to learn to hit hardest or risk being killed. The fear of being back in that situation is one that continues to drive him and results in some painfully honest moments where Tyson allows us to see a side of him we didn't even know existed. He reveals a scared, insecure man, haunted by the loss of his mentor and trainer, Cus D'Amato just as he was hitting the big time and just when he needed him the most; The question of how Tyson might have developed as a person with this parental figure still present hangs over the film.