Spike Lee plans a film about Joe Louis and Max Schmeling

Lee, whose latest movie, "Bamboozled" competes in the main Golden Bear section at the Berlin festival, says he expects to return soon in connection with the film, part of which will be shot in Germany. "It's got Hitler, Goebbels, Roosevelt, Mussolini, all that stuff," the Festival's daily "Movie Pictures" journal cites him as saying. Louis, idolised by American boxing fans throughout the 1930s, twice fought Schmeling, the then German heavyweight champion, both times in Yankee Stadium. On the first occasion, Schmeling created a boxing sensation by knocking out Louis in the 12th round.

Schmeling returned home to Germany to a hero's welcome. But in the return bout Louis gained his revenge, sending Schmeling crashing to the canvas to be counted out ignominiously in the first round. The way Lee tells it, "the second fight was regarded as more than just a boxing match. It was perceived as a battle of democracy against fascism. "The irony was that America was forced into a position where it accepted a negro as a symbol for itself and democracy at the same time as black people were still getting lynched."

Schmeling returned home to Germany in disgrace, and was later drafted into the paratroopers where Lee hints the Nazis probably hoped he would get killed. But luck smiled on the popular German heavyweight who managed to survive the war. "Later, he was given a job as president of Coca Cola in Germany and became a very, very wealthy man," Lee told the Festival journal. Schmeling, now aged 95, remains Germany's greatest sporting icon.

By contrast, stated the movie-maker, Joe Louis died in poverty. "I think it was criminal what the U.S. government did to him. "Joe was the ultimate patriot. He donated two of his purses during the war to the army and navy relief funds, and then he was hounded by the IRS (American tax authorities) practically to his death."

(la/dpa)