Bobby Fischer Against the World
All this summer, HBO is featuring documentary films in its line up, so all this summer, we’ll be reviewing them.
On one hand, it makes complete sense to create a documentary about Bobby Fischer. He was a child prodigy, the world chess champion, and an insane person. All of those elements can add up to remarkably compelling storytelling. On the other, Fischer is undoubtedly a relic of another time whose 15 minutes of fame seemed artificially stretched beyond their breaking point by a people as obsessed with him as he was with chess.
In ‘Bobby Fischer Against the World’, director Liz Garbus pieces together a monumentally beautiful documentary that’s only slightly uninteresting.
The doc does a fantastic job of telling Fischer’s life story inasmuch as it consists mainly of childhood fame, an iconic match to become world champion, and a pathetic downhill slide into paranoia and death. Yes, he is an incendiary figure that helped launch a giant chess craze in the United States during a time where any fight between the Soviets and the Red, White and Blue would have caused a sensation. It’s also true that he was infuriating – and that’s might make him interesting for some. Unfortunately, Fischer isn’t very compelling past his achievements. He’s a cultural marker that maintained a spotlight because he refused to play by the rules, not because he had anything profound to say.
Garbus seems to anticipate this and loads the film with fascinating figures discussing their rocky friendships with the champ in attempt to give his life true context.
- Bobby Fischer.
Director Liz Garbus has beautifully strung together pieces from the life of Bobby Fischer in the documentary ‘Bobby Fischer Against the World’.
The film is a documentary about chess, but don’t let the term ‘documentary’ deceive you, as the film opens a window into Fischer’s life that is both engrossing and full of suspense. The documentary takes you from his childhood fame as chess player, at the age of 14, to the days of his world-class championship, when he was 29. His thoughts were a combination of genius and madness. After he reclined towards delusion and paranoia, he became a fugitive and died as one on Jan. 17th 2008.
Bobby Fischer (widely known as the greatest and the most feared Chess champion of all times) led a life of a loner, defending his title as a champion and representing his country during the Russian cold war. Having a mentally unstable mother, Fischer grew up a disturbed child, nevertheless a genius. When too much success is coming your way, you start fearing to lose. Such was the case with Fischer.
Russians dominated the Chess world and accepting Fischer’s victory was like taking a bitter pill. Stories of his victory echoed in the western world. The documentary describes his game against Boris Spassky and his eventual takedown. The competition against one of his biggest rivals, is a thrilling section of the film, although the entire segments of the championship game are not being adapted completely, they have nbeen described by the personalities who had witnessed the game, narrating the events out of memory.
Bobby Fischer was, for a brief time, as famous as any man alive, a foot soldier in the Cold War and the greatest player in the history of the world’s most popular board game. But he was also a virulent anti-Semite who was delighted by the events of 9.11 and who was stripped of his U.S. citizenship for playing chess in Yugoslavia. The new documentary ‘Bobby Fischer Against the World’ offers a fascinating portrait of this gifted and troubled man.
It’s difficult for anyone under the age of 35 to get their head around the idea that Fischer’s 1972 match with Russian Boris Spassky for the chess championship was a matter of global importance. But director Liz Garbus drives home the scale of the moment with footage of network news anchors saying things like: “We’ll have more on the developments in the Watergate bugging case… But first, Bobby Fischer…” It’s mindboggling.
The portrait of Fischer’s life after Spassky is a bit dissatisfying but it’s hardly Garbus’ fault. Fischer soon forfeited his title and disappeared from public life, popping up only periodically to say something crazy, usually anti-Semitic in nature.