Takedown: The DNA of GSP movie / documentary review

 

The DNA of GSP is a good behind the scenes look at the world of Georges St-Pierre's life, and a documentary fans of Pierre's will enjoy. GSP doesn't lead a very wild life, so it's not a movie where you will see a lot of crazy and extreme behavior akin to something like The Wolf of Wall Street. But some of the interesting moments are when Pierre departs from his very classy and seemingly perfect image. His disdain for Nick Diaz is something which really is apparent and it was interesting to see how motivated GSP was to fight him. The origin of that rage is summed up well in this quote:

Diaz reminds Pierre of the bullies he endured as a youngster in school in Quebec. The Stockton native tapped into those demons in Pierre and that is quite apparent as Pierre's first words evidently after his ACL surgery were regarding how he was going to kick Diaz's ass.

The documentary is a look into the mind of champion and a martial artist. And in essence, GSP is a martial artist. Regardless of how he feels, he does he very best to conduct himself with regards to three key principles of traditional martial arts: Honor, Respect, Discipline.

GSP has his own code of honor he adheres to, treats people with respect and adopts a humble state of mind, and showcases the discipline to do things tha the does not want to do, because he feels they are the right way to conduct his life.

Pierre briefly mentions that he has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which is an interesting moment in the film. Whether or not GSP has been diagnosed clinically with OCD is unclear, but he notes one aspect of his obsessiveness in that if he steps on a crack on the sidewalk with his right foot, he must step on another crack with his left foot to undue that wrong, which could potentially bring havoc into his life. He realizes that is ridiculous in his mind, but says it's just something he can't seem to control with his intellect.

Through viewing the film it is apparent three key ingredients to his success as a fighter is his devotion to being martial artist, having a past where he was bullied and mistreated as a youngster by peers, and an obsessive personality which he channeled in a positive fashion.

While this is an interesting look into the mind of a champion, a much better insight into Pierre's brain with a massive amount of useful and applicable information, is GSP's book The Way of the Fight. That was the best MMA book which has been published thus far and is a very deep, insightful, honest, and extremely useful book from Georges St-Pierre.


Quotes from Takedown: The DNA of GSP: