TORONTO -
He's often referred to as an animal, a rapist and a thug. For many, the story of disgraced American boxer Mike Tyson is easily reduced to a simple condemnation.
But in James Toback's documentary "Tyson," the former champion is presented as a tragic figure consumed by fear, regret and self-reflection, a battered hero who says he strives to be a good father and a better man.
It's a revelatory film that has drawn raves around the world for Tyson's unguarded confessions of addiction and maniacal violence, but also some criticism for the sympathetic portrayal of a man many love to hate.
Toback, a friend and confidant of Tyson for 20 years, says his film is by no means a puff piece, defending it as a straight-up account of a man who has long been misunderstood.
"He has been branded by the media as a rapist and an ear-biter," the U.S. filmmaker said in an interview Wednesday during a media stop in Toronto.
"Those two images have been so often repeated that they've almost taken on a greater identity impact than being the youngest heavyweight champion ever and probably the greatest fighter who ever lived ... And one of the things that the movie does is to give him an opportunity, as it does in all the areas, to express his own view."
Toback says he tried to keep his own opinions out of the film.
"If (Tyson) comes out well, it's because that's who he is. Because I didn't in any way tilt the movie towards him. He's filled with self-recrimination in the film, (saying) 'I've only myself to blame, I was afraid, I was terrified.' I mean, there's all sorts of stuff that is the uncensored view of Mike Tyson by Mike Tyson."
Tyson doesn't shy away from discussing infamous incidents, revisiting his 1992 conviction for raping Desiree Washington and the ensuing three years in prison as "the most horrible time" of his life.
"I lost my humanity, I lost my reputation, I lost everything that I worked so hard for," he says in the film, appearing softer around the middle at age 40.
Of his 1996 comeback fight with Evander Holyfield, in which he was disqualified for biting off a piece of his opponent's ear, Tyson says: "I was depressed with myself, not because I bit him but just because I lost my discipline and composure."
The film begins with Tyson's own attempts at explaining the intimidating fighter he became. His earliest memory is of being a fat boy with glasses, bullied by other kids in his tough Brooklyn neighbourhood. The fear of being humiliated stayed with him all his life, he says.
Recollections of his mentor and former trainer Cus D'Amato bring him to tears.
All this unfolds through a stream-of-consciousness speech delivered direct-to-camera, interspersed with clips from Tyson's fight reel, material from other interviews (including the damning one by Barbara Walters of ex-wife Robin Givens) and news footage.
Toback says the five-day shoot took place at a rented house in Los Angeles two years ago while Tyson was on leave from a stint in rehab. Rather than staging a conversation or an interview, Toback says he stood behind Tyson where he couldn't be seen and just threw out subjects and let him go.
