Fascinating documentary on a very enigmatic figure that I had heard only scraps about before this film. As I understood it he was famous for being a chess champion who disappeared suddenly never to be heard of again but this is a totally mistaken view of the character. There is no doubt in my mind after seeing this film that he cared only for chess and took refuse in it to escape a neglected upbringing. Whilst he would have been famous in chess circles at any time, his involvement with a world championship challenge with Boris Spassky was used by the media of the time to project a cold war confrontation onto the chess board. This is the real story of Bobby Fischer. The fame that followed him was a result of this media interest with chess being (almost unthinkably) broadcast live on network television and even leading the to personal involvement of Kissinger at one point. Fischer's mind could not handle this constant unremitting attention and, a solitary man at the best of times, he began to lose grip on reality. This film presents an amazing amount of TV footage of Fischer from his earliest years up the time near his death, together with interviews with those close to him, and stitches it all into a gripping narrative of a dashing, brilliant but finally haunted man.
Review of Bobby Fischer Against the World
