King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters is one of my favorite documentaries of all time. If someone was new to the documentary game, and I wanted to ease them into this genre that many times gets labled as boring, slow, and pretentious, I would start them off with this gem of a documentary. Much has been written about this documentary and many people call it an incredible underdog story that rivals that of Rocky, Rudy, or at least Cool Runnings.
I don’t contest any of those reviews but I am not here to regurgitate many of the things written about the movie when it debuted in 2007. I bonded with this movie over an issue with the main character (Steve Wiebe) that is only spoken in undertones through the movie. Steve struggles to “have it all”. He struggles to become the very best at something while living the life of loving father and devoted husband. My job gives me the opportunity to actually compete with people around the DFW region, the great state of Texas, and the Nation. I am a hyper-competitive person and do not like losing. In my quest to try to coach the best speakers and debaters in the country my job takes a tremendous amount of time. My kids are competing 22 weekends a year and we have after school practice 3 times a week. This schedule on top of work is huge time commitment. That time commitment can often trade off with time spent with my family. I know the inner drive that Steve has to be the best, to work his hardest for something, go to battle, and reach the goal of being in an elite category. That story we are told as little kids that says hard work, drive, and determination is all it takes to achieve your goal gets a quick in the teeth. When in Steve’s case he is in the middle of setting a world record at Donkey Kong and his son who is under 4 at the time needs some attention and needs his dad to, “wipe [his] butt”. I don’t want a different life and would not give up my family for anything. I would just like to find that magic balance that allows me to do both. As I was watching this documentary it hit me the amount of time Steve spends in his garage playing Donkey Kong. One game at his level is going to take around 2 ½ hours. If he gets in 2 games a night that is 5 hours of hard core focused Kong time on top of work, kids and family. I empathize with that inner desire to be the best at something and have recognition from your peers. I understand the struggle to want to be a great dad and loving husband, all wile working for a goal that only a small minority recognize as significant. In this movie Steve Wiebe truly is the every man character who’s problems mimic my own and make this an amazing documentary for everyone.
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