Filled with beauty, humility, poignance, and a healthy bit of nostalgia, numerous first-hand accounts from the days of old and memories told in the first person inform the documentary on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s life, his rise to stardom, and eventually global recognition. However, much before he could become the Terminator and claim unparalleled dominance over popular culture, the young Austrian would rise to claim the Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia titles – the highest of honors that exist solely for the sport of bodybuilding.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Leaves an Unforgettable Impression
Arnold Schwarzenegger holds almost a childlike enthusiasm for the idols who inspired and drove him toward picking up his first weights at the gym as a young teenager in Austria. Coming from an almost poor household, the Austrian-born American actor, politician, and former bodybuilder did not recognize the futuristic potential this chosen profession held for him until meeting Reg Park – his idol, role model, and hero – all packed in one.
Meeting Reg Park was like one of those extraordinary moments. You see him in magazines. You see him in movies. And then all of a sudden, there he is… it was just extraordinary to see Hercules, that you saw in the movies, to see him in front of you, and then to have a conversation and to have him be so nice.
In 1967, after winning the Mr. Universe title, he traveled to South Africa (under the proposal of Reg Park who promised him a slew of paid posing exhibitions if Schwarzenegger could bag the ’67 Mr. Universe contest). There, the then-future actor met Park’s family who went on to have not only a huge influence in his life but help develop a formative understanding in him about the importance of love, family, and the importance of having a great familial relationship.
Years later, though, Park’s son recollected having the giant Mr. Universe among his family, living with them, and the impression he left on the young mind of Jon Jon Park (also a trainer):
I met Arnold when he came here. I was nine at the time. He was very polite. He was well-mannered. He would wear sandals and socks, you now? Like a country bumpkin, so to speak. Lily-white skin. Everybody on the beach had a tan.
But not all of Park’s observations of the man who behaved like a fish out of the water were critical. Jon Jon Park had a microscopic understanding of how incredibly new the city life and hubbub of the different socio-cultural atmosphere had on the bodybuilder. Like a sponge, Schwarzenegger absorbed all of it.
I remember him almost being in awe but my dad [Reg Park] made him feel so comfortable. My mother, you know, of course made him feel so comfortable as well. He immediately became part of the family.
Despite the displacement any other person would have felt, to Arnold Schwarzenegger, it was as though the whole world and its endless opportunities had opened up to him and there simply was no place else to go from here but up.
The Impossible Ambition That Drove Arnold Schwarzenegger
Perhaps from the moment he was born, Arnold Schwarzenegger knew he was destined for greatness. The Austrian, as a boy, had impossible drive, an almost impeccable taste for the things that lie beyond the reach of common folk, and a dream of achieving greatness from an age that was perhaps too premature for young boys to harbor such grand ambition. But despite the cruel nature of the circumstance of his birth, Schwarzenegger strived – against poverty, his abusive father, against the troubled system within which he grew up and which he wanted to break out of.
By the age of 15, the country boy rose out of the dingy statehood of his existence and picked up his first weights, thus giving rise to an immortal, extensive, and illustrious career that would land him his first-ever Mr. Universe title at 20. He became the youngest winner of the award in the history of bodybuilding, picked up three more of those while also becoming a 7-time consecutive winner of the Mr. Olympia title, before moving on to Hollywood to pursue more impossible dreams and fuel his greater ambitions in life.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Source: Netflix | Arnold
