The Documentary, Pumping Iron is gritty, old school bodybuilding documentary during the "Golden Era" of bodybuilding. It's natural lighting and older graphics do not interfere with the meaning of the film. The documentary has the major themes of hard work paying off, and a light-hearted, fun view of bodybuilding in general. Its audience is specifically for anyone interested in bodybuilding, and would not be very appealing to those who aren't interested. The camera angles are mainly medium – close ups of the bodybuilders preparing for their shows, but it also has extreme close ups of the muscles that were developed to show the detail and vascularity. If you like bodybuilding, you would probably enjoy the film. Throughout the film, you have the same theme of hard work paying off. The film captures rewards of success by showing the jubilant Arnold at the top of the sport. You see Arnold at the beach hanging out with beautiful women and drinking beer when he was done with the grinding work at the gym. As for others, they show all the medals and trophies that they have gotten through bodybuilding while other people doubted them on their journey. It is more of a motivational documentary than informative. To give you a feel of the film, it starts off with Arnold Schwarzenegger learning posing routines, and then showing others how to pose for contests. Arnold explains why bodybuilding is different from other sports and arts, and he is really the star of the show, but that's about all the information the film gives. You get to know Arnold's personality throughout the film. For example, when he poses in prison at the beginning of the film, he is very lax about the prisoners making jokes about him, and jokes back with them. Later other bodybuilders, such as Franco Colombo, and Amateur Mike Kats are featured in the film also giving a view of their personalities and the struggles they faced to reach their levels. Franco was shown to be a prominent boxer in Italy, even after he was being brought down by his mom for not having a job. By seeing Franco and Arnold training together you can tell what kind of people they are when they are in difficult positions and in intense pain.
Finally, should you watch this film? There's no definite answer. If you're looking to learn about bodybuilding and how to be successful in transforming your body, then this isn't the film to watch, as there's not much information to learn from. Now, if you want to have a good time and feel good about it then this is right for you. It has many good feeling traits, such as the bodybuilders smiling and relaxing, and it shows the rewards from the work they put in. The film is something you can watch by yourself at night after a workout if you're feeling down or after a bad day. Personally, I enjoyed it, but I wish they had more information on how to get big. Pumping Iron was a good documentary for its purpose and was well made.
Finally, should you watch this film? There's no definite answer. If you're looking to learn about bodybuilding and how to be successful in transforming your body, then this isn't the film to watch, as there's not much information to learn from. Now, if you want to have a good time and feel good about it then this is right for you. It has many good feeling traits, such as the bodybuilders smiling and relaxing, and it shows the rewards from the work they put in. The film is something you can watch by yourself at night after a workout if you're feeling down or after a bad day. Personally, I enjoyed it, but I wish they had more information on how to get big. Pumping Iron was a good documentary for its purpose and was well made.