Review #174: 'Bobby Fischer Against the World' (2011)

I'd never heard of Bobby Fischer before this film. What I discovered before viewing, was simply that he had beaten Boris Spassky, of the Soviet Union, in chess in 1974. Perhaps not the greatest of subjects for a film. Apart from the obvious cold war conflicts and show of power and intelligence. This was an opportunity for both the Soviet Union and the USA to show they have the most powerful citizens. After the space race had been "completed" after America had landed on the moon, they needed to focus on something else. In Eastern Europe, chess is seen as the ultimate form of intelligent gaming - and a perfect allegory for war. However, this is not the focus of Liz Garbus's film.

The point of the film is to show the life of Fischer, who after beating Spassky, became incredibly erratic, and his behaviour was increasingly odd. He had been raised by an incredibly intelligent mother who didn't really have time for him. So Fischer's focus, and obsession from a very early age, was chess. Bobby lived chess. unfortunately, this absolute focus had an adverse effect on his mind in later life. After all, chess is possibly the most paranoid game; the object is to predict what your opponents moves are, long before they occur. This constant focus on over-thinking people's movements, was translated into his everyday life, and this bred increasing paranoid delusions. After his erratic behaviour effected a re-match with Spassky in 1974, he wandered the world, mostly for being deemed an enemy of America, and banished.

This created an intrinsic hatred of America, and this was an opinion that was broadcast on Filipino radio when he commented on the 9/11 attacks; Fischer stated that this was good, and it was about time the USA had a taste of their own medicine (he has a point). This is a very interesting documentary, that digs deep into a very flawed, but incredibly intelligent person. It shows high delicate the human brain can be, and could also illustrate that old cliche that there is a fine line between genius and madness.


Directed by: Liz Garbus
Starring: Bobby Fischer
Country: USA/UK/Iceland

Rating: ***

Marc Ivamy