Muhammad Ali’s daughters spent time in London promoting the U.K. release of “I Am Ali,” a documentary about the boxing legend’s career that The Guardian calls “a very watchable tribute.”
The documentary mixes interviews with Ali’s family and inner circle with archive footage and personal audio recordings and includes the years when Ali was banned from boxing from 1967-1971.
Step-sisters Maryum and Hana Ali said the former boxer is still waiting to see the documentary for the first time, and they plan to visit him in Arizona on their return from London to watch it with him.
“If you even speak when you watch anything to do with him, he’ll say ‘Shh,'” said Hana, while smiling, Tuesday to The Associated Press.
Maryum and Hana are both featured in the documentary remembering their childhood years with Ali.
“For me it was bittersweet,” Maryum said to The Associated Press. “He was famous in boxing when I was a kid. I had to share him with the world, at the same time the world loved him. So we were able to receive the love.”
“I grew up going to school and bragging a lot ‘my daddy is Muhammad Ali, I can do what I want to do,’” Hana said. “And he used to sit me down and tell me how just because I’m famous the world’s going to treat you different. They’re going to treat you special, but you’re no better than anybody else and the only thing that makes you greater than anyone is your heart.”
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian notes that while “I Am Ali” lacks the “originality and force” of other films about Muhammad Ali, “it is impossible not to thrill to images of the man himself.” Bradshaw also that “I Am Ali” has “one piercing insight” about the not-so-wasted years when Ali was banned from boxing.
According to Maryum and Hana, Ali is enjoying life and doing well and is at peace.