Dmitriy Salita’s a complicated guy. Born in Odessa, Ukraine, but raised in Midwood, Salita, 25, is a world-class boxer — a Golden Gloves and US Amateur National Championship winner — and an observant, Orthodox Jew.
Tipped off to the unusual nature of the up-and-coming young fighter, who scheduled the pummeling of his opponents around the Sabbath, filmmaker Jason Hutt contacted Salita through his rabbi in 2002, and began filming the young boxer almost immediately.
“I’m drawn to things that I don’t necessarily understand,” Hutt told GO Brooklyn, “and that was true about boxing and the world of Hasidic Judaism here in Brooklyn. How does an observant Jew carve out a place for himself in professional boxing? That was what I went in being curious about.”
It didn’t take long before Hutt found himself completely immersed in Salita’s world. The Windsor Terrace resident joined Salita on a trip to Las Vegas just weeks after meeting him, and over the three years of shooting would accompany him to Los Angeles and Puerto Rico, in addition to countless hours logged here in Brooklyn.
“I just go in with my camera and shoot these fascinating things,” said Hutt. “I think the whole thing is about discovery, and that to me is what interesting documentaries are about: when you go into a world that you ordinarily wouldn’t go into.”
But the filmmaker’s journey isn’t that different from his subjects. As a child, Salita used boxing to escape from the harsh reality he faced; his family was on welfare, his mother had cancer and, like plenty of other kids, he found it hard to fit in at school.
“I starting boxing when I was 13,” said Salita. “Prior to that, I did karate and kick boxing. After I won a big fight in kickboxing, [someone] recommended that I go to a boxing gym — I fell in love the first day.”
And while a trainer from Starrett City Boxing Club in East New York, where Salita trains, remembers that first day as one where the young fighter was repeatedly pounded, Salita kept coming back and soon enough he was the one wailing on the other fighters.
Watching Hutt’s film, “Orthodox Stance,” which will be released on Jan. 25, viewers could easily come to the conclusion that Salita was in fact born to box. He doesn’t lose once over the course of the film, and, despite having to cook his own kosher meals in far flung hotel rooms, avoid fighting until after sundown on Saturdays, and explain himself at every turn, Salita remains remarkably upbeat, especially for someone whose job it is to make others bleed.
“Part of my interest in Dmitriy was [his] ability to be religious in a boxing gym, and in Las Vegas, and in the media, and for him to be a professional boxer in his synagogue,” said Hutt. “To me, that was what’s so refreshing and appealing about his character, the ability to be himself.”
Hutt, who worked as the only cameraman and kept a respectful distance from Salita and his entourage, wasn’t the only one to learn a thing or two about his subject from the film, however.
“I’m not used to seeing myself in the ring and on TV,” Salita said. “Even now, it’s awkward to see some of the more intimate moments, and some things look amazing.”
From an outsider’s perspective, most of it does look incredible. It’s impossible not to root for Salita, whom the film follows from prayer to punching bags and from runs along Brighton Beach to a cocktail party at the White House. When, near the end of the film, he fights for his first professional title at the Hammerstein Ballroom — the first New York fight of the film — with Hasidic singer Matisyahu singing ringside, it’s hard not to get excited. Hutt’s time with Salita was well spent, as the boxer seems to have become used to the cameras and doesn’t hold back.
“It was just Jason, and he never interrupted any training,” Salita said. “He filmed other people as well, and he just became one of the guys in the gym. As I get older, I’m just comfortable with who I am and what I do. It’s normal to me, but I understand why others find it interesting.”
“Orthodox Stance” will open on Jan. 25 at Cinema Village (22 East 12th St. at Fifth Avenue in Manhattan). Tickets are $10. For information, call (212) 924-3363 or visit www.orthodoxstance.com.
