For those like myself who have as much of an interest in pop culture celebrity as they do political history, there are few figures more fascinating than those like Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X. The former was a boisterous heavyweight boxing champion from Kentucky, and the latter was a fiery minister raised in the Industrial Midwest. These two iconic figures shared a brief but historically influencing friendship. Blood Brothers: Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali has its premise as that friendship while also taking a wider look at the history of their individual influences on history.

Inspired by the similarly titled book Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X, the documentary is more an exploration of each man’s life than the film’s title would suggest. Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali grew up in different realities, but the similarities between the two are impossible to deny. The film chronicles their lives both together and apart, including Malcolm’s struggle with the Nation of Islam and Muhammad Ali’s grappling with the cult of celebrity forming around him.

While advertised as a film about their friendship, the documentary falters in that it takes too wide a scope in time for that fascinating story to be told effectively. The first thirty to forty minutes are an informative (if a little unengaging) introduction to the two men, explaining their lives up to their meeting. For those that may not know the origins of the two figures, it’d be an educational experience. In terms of filmmaking, there’s not much offered that those interested in these figures wouldn’t already know.

The film is most engaging when it’s offering a personal portrait of their friendship, which is where it engages in a more creative form as it uses animation on occasion. While multiple talking heads appear to give historical context to their lives, it’s the family members that appear that give the most to the film. The daughters of Malcolm and Ali each expose a side of the two figures that rarely gets depicted: Their kind and nurturing side. The way history has portrayed the two men has been as loud, boisterous, and hot-headed figures. However, knowing about Malcolm’s nurturing nature as a father or Ali’s willingness to develop his faith are the moments where the documentary shines.

It is these moments of brevity and friendship that make their split all the more tragic and unfortunately deviates back to the style of the first portion of the film. While Malcolm and Ali’s friendship’s end is briefly discussed, including their split opinions about Elijah Muhammad, the film makes the mistake of switching between their lives rather than discussing them together. While more “relevant” information is given to the viewers, more does not always mean better.

In terms of form, the documentary is neither groundbreaking nor particularly unwieldy. The usage of archival footage and photography is well-placed, even though multiple images are repeated for no discernible dramatic reason. Animation plays a supporting role to provide a few moments of color and flash, but these moments are too fleeting to act as more than set dressing for the film.

A Netflix documentary is often hit or miss. One on two fascinating figures, with a fascinating friendship, has lots of potential in its premise. The unfortunate case of trying to tackle too much outside of that friendship is what leads to Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali being a narrow miss for Netflix.

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Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali

4.5

Score

4.5/10

Pros

• Interesting premise.
• Engaging in certain parts.
• Historically educational.

Cons

• Wasted use of premise.
• Too large in scope.
• Generic & repetitive usage of archival footage.