"MANNY" the documentary rekindles old Pacquiao magic
"MANNY," the documentary directed by Ryan Moore and Leon Gast about eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao, premiered Monday night at the Newport Performing Arts Theater in Resorts World Manila. It was the second showing of the documentary as it was earlier shown in the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.
To capture the audience from the very first minute, the documentary showed Pacquiao’s fourth fight against Juan Manuel Marquez. In that fight, after getting knocked down with a haymaker right hand from the Mexican, Pacquiao suddenly fought like he was years younger. The old fire, the relentless attacking suddenly returned.
It all ended when a perfectly timed counter right from Marquez as Pacquiao was moving in for his own knockout blow.
Seeing Pacquiao face down in the ring, watching Jinkee Pacquiao panic thinking her husband was dead was like getting punched in the gut. It was the boxer’s loss but it reverberated all over the Philippines.
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The documentary started with it because the director wanted the audience to know that in this film, they will need to see the best and worst times in Manny Pacquiao’s career.
The film makers were able to collate footage of Pacquiao’s earlier days as a fighter. The story about his relationship with long-time friend and trainer Buboy Fernandez was particularly touching. The middle part of the documentary was told in a linear manner from Marco Antonio Barrera, to Eric Morales, to David Diaz, and to Oscar De La Hoya.
One of the best clips in the film featured head trainer Freddie Roach telling Pacquiao to stop drinking, gambling, and womanizing in preparation for his fight against De La Hoya.
The documentary also brought to light some inconvenient truths about Pacquiao. He has admitted the gambling, drinking, and cheating so any revelations about that were not really earth shattering. The crew could have dug deeper to see what really goes on with Pacquiao’s finances because these has ben the hot topic in the past few months but they just scratched the surface.
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The highlights of the film included Pacquiao going back to the place he first called home. The film then transitioned to fishermen working on their day’s catch but the film makers threw a curve ball when they suddenly showed that Pacquiao actually helped in the fishing, reliving one of his first jobs when he was a kid. Back in those days, Pacquiao labored for hours for a few pesos. Now he works for a maximum of 48 minutes on top of the ring to bring home cash that is equivalent to an entire ocean's supply of fish.
The other highlight was Pacquiao recording the now immortal "Sometimes When We Touch" with singer and songwriter Dan Hill. It was the funniest part of the documentary because it was genuine. Pacquiao did everything Hill asked from him, even emulating the professional singer’s gestures. At the tail end of the song, Pacquiao unleashed a mind-numbing ending. Hill’s reaction was the classic “Oh my, what just happened here?” as he put both hands over his mouth to cover his real reaction. Hill quickly realized that he couldn’t say anything bad because it’s Manny Pacquiao so he just shook the boxer’s hand.
On the flipside, the filmmakers could have left all of the narrating to Liam Neeson. Pacquiao is best when he is his usual quirky self. The way he told the story when he first saw a television was brilliant. But when he narrated, the words really felt that these were not his.
Overall, MANNY is a good collection of bits and pieces of stories about Manny Pacquiao. Those who consume an insane amount of Pacquiao material, those who have watched every episode of HBO 24/7 at least twice, those who have memorized the lines of Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant in the Pacman’s fights might find the never-before-seen footage lacking.
But for those who became fans of Pacquiao around the time when he defeated Oscar de la Hoya, MANNY is the perfect was to rekindle your appreciation for the boxer and the person.
His effect may not be the same as before. He may not sell out cinemas or empty out EDSA. He may not dominate the nightly newscast or own the daily newspapers’ entire front page anymore. But the fact of the matter is that Filipinos who lived in Manny Pacquiao’s time should consider themselves lucky that in their lifetime, a Filipino was the world’s best at something.
