A DVD Black History Lesson

WHEN WE WERE KINGS (1996)

The ''Rumble in the Jungle,'' where Muhammad Ali — stripped of his heavyweight title for refusing to be drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War — went a few agonizing rounds with a pre-cuddly George Foreman. Director Leon Gast — who shot the bulk of the footage in 1974 — may have just set out to document a clash of pugilistic titans, but what he got was a snapshot of an America, both black and white, learning something about it's own cultural identity.