I finally got a chance to watch Pumping Iron last weekend, which I've been meaning to see for ages. It's basically the story — which I use very literally — of Arnold Schwarzenegger's pursuit of his sixth Mr. Olympia title in 1977. Someone kindly lent me the 25th anniversary special edition of the film.

The most fascinating part of the film for me was the revelations afterwards in the "Raw Iron" featurette about the making of the film. Everyone knows that documentary films exhibit some bias of their makers, but it's revealed afterwards that Pumping Iron has some broad fictional elements to add drama and marketability to the film. I'm not criticizing the film makers here (they consistently refer to the film as a docu-drama) but I was surprised how much of the original film I took at face value. I'm a reasonably critical audience member, but I passively accepted that the tension between Arnold and the film's antagonist was real and that other parts of the film were unscripted.

Aside from being a very entertaining film, coupled with the added features Pumping Iron provides a fascinating insight into the documentary process and also into the strange world Arnold was a part of at that time.

There is also an interesting scene in the Raw Iron segment where Arnold and a couple of other body builders are part of an art exhibit at the Whitney Museum, posing as real life statuary. It was part fundraising event, part art exhibit.