Summary: (http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/BillSIegel-KamlaShow2-e1382157521121-150x150.jpg)Filmmaker Bill Siegel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTEYjMC3bNU&feature=c4-overview&list=UUg24IW2af8JjGE-DCbkPG0g)'s new documentary - The Trails of Muhammad Ali (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt_TD2oYS0A). The film looks at the "world's greatest" boxing champion's life outside the boxing ring. Born and brought up in Kentucky, Cassius Clay made a name for himself at a very young age as a heavy weight boxing champion. In 1964 Clay won the world heavyweight champion (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/25/newsid_4161000/4161687.stm) by defeating Sonny Liston. But, his meteoric rise to the top plateaued in the mid-1960s. That is when Clay's interest in his identify and Islam came to the forefront of his life. Called to serve in the army Clay declined to join the service on religious grounds and his opposition to Vietnam war. And for the next few years he was involved in a legal battle that went up all the way to the US Supreme Court. The Trails of Muhammad Ali looks at this turbulent period of the boxing champion's life. How did Cassius Clay become Muhammad Ali? How did he discover Islam and the Nation of Islam? How did he define his identity? The film uses old archival footage of Ali along with interviews with people that were part of his team s team during this period like his former wife Khalilah 'Belinda' Ali (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1424229/?ref_=tt_cl_t2), his brother Rahaman Ali (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0019475/?ref_=tt_cl_t4), and Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakhan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Farrakhan). Siegel's idea for The Trails of Muhammad Ali was born from his extensive research on Ali that began in the 1990s. It was then that he worked on his first project on Ali. The project was shelved. Siegel went on to work on other projects like Hoop Dreams (http://www.kartemquin.com/films/hoop-dreams) and Weather Underground (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weather_Underground)that he co-directed. Besides being a filmmaker, Siegel works with the non-profit organization Great Books Foundation (http://www.greatbooks.org)in Chicago.
