Akron native Ismail Al-Amin tells Butch Reynolds' story in ESPN '30 for 30' documentary
Documentary filmmaker and Akron native Ismail Al-Amin has had a couple of months to digest what is currently happening in his life.
After getting to know track legend Butch Reynold s through their mutual like of working with the area's young people approximately 15 years ago, Al-Amin saw an opportunity to change his career path.
Reynolds, a track legend, Olympian and Akron native who had once owned the world record in the 400 meters, was accused of using performance enhancing drugs and was suspended for two years.
Looking for and equivalent scenario: think Muhammad Ali being suspended at the height of his powers and prowess.
More: Butch Reynolds still seeks vindication years after being accused of doping
Despite the courts clearing him and even awarding monetary damages (which he never saw) from the International Amateur Athletics Federation, Reynolds was never fully cleared. For Al-Amin, his documentary "False Positive" wants to change that.
It's been more than two months since it premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival to acclaim. It also played at the Cinema Columbus Film Festival and the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, N.C. Tuesday it makes its debut as part of ESPN's "30 for 30" documentary film series.
It's been more than a decade since he considered telling the story back in 2010. Reynolds' is a story that deserves to be shared and its possible injustices – which continue – exposed.
Al-Amin tried to avoid biases
Al-Amin is honest about what he considered. Reynolds was accused during an era when other athletes, such as Canada's Ben Johnson, were caught. Al-Amin said he wasn't sure that Reynolds was clean.
"I think the public pretty much agreed that track-and-field was a dirty sport at the time," he said during an interview at a Cleveland area hotel the day the film premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival.
It was important for him, as a storyteller, to deal with the subject in a truthful manner, however.
"I think a good storyteller kind of goes along on the ride as you research the facts and fact and things uncovered and you uncover information, I think you can't be stringent," he said. "I think you have to be flexible, and you have to go along with the ride.
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"And as things unfold, the storyline unfolds. I think the moment when I was just totally confident in him as a clean athlete was when I started to read some of the court documents, some of the expert testimony, and I was just like, 'it just didn't add up.'"
Research led him to interviews, including former USA Today sports reporter Dick Patrick who reported on the situation extensively. There's little doubt as to where the documentary's sensibilities land. The case is compellingly in Reynolds' favor.
Al-Amin dealing with anticipation
Ultimately, viewers will decide whether that's the case. Now that the moment of its airing is here, Al-Amin sounds remarkably calm in a phone conversation. He's not nervous for its national television debut, but he confesses to anxiousness.
"I'm not nervous. Only because I feel the piece of art that I made is solid and I think it's going to have the impact that I anticipated, that we anticipated as a team. I think it checks all the boxes of a good, compelling, moving and emotional story. I really do."
While not nervous, a little bit of worry creeps into the conversation.
"I guess as an artist, you're always sensitive about what you make, and you hope that people receive it," he said. "You hope it impacts somebody's life and you hope people can connect with you, connect with your vision and connect with your message. So, I guess you always have that type of worry that you may not be received the way that you be received."
The audience for 'False Positive'
In one respect he has to worry about the reception he receives from an audience of one – Reynolds. He needn't, however. Reynolds said he wanted a couple things from the film after agreeing to participate.He wanted the audience to have some perspective on how significant track-and-field is as a sport, and how prestigious and lucrative it can be. Doing so placed into clear view just how much (likely millions of dollars) Reynolds lost along with his reputation. It also gives him another platform to hopefully finally clear his name completely.
And Al-Amin wants that as well.
Inspiring through the truth
Al-Amin hopes people like the film, but he wants Reynolds' story of perseverance to inspire.
"It really teaches people how family, how faith, how they can sustain you and maintain your belief in yourself," he said.
But there's something more personal that shows that provides evidence of the duo's friendship.
"I hope it creates some groundswell under Butch so people want to work with him to help him to be vindicated reputation wise and financially," he said. "But I just really hope that it really just reactivates his life and allows him to get back and out here in this public sphere and share his story and inspire people and just create, offered more opportunity for himself."
George M. Thomas dabbles in movies and television for the Beacon Journal.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron native Ismail Al-Amin tells Butch Reynolds story in ESPN film
