Chrysler's extraordinary two-minute commercial that ran during Sunday's Super Bowl included the contemporary rapper Eminem and a quick edit between two iconic visual elements of Motor City history. The initiative was a serial of shots showing the Joe Louis "Fist" monument, an 8,000-pound sculpture of a forearm and a fist outside City Hall that honors the heavyweight boxing champion who rose from Detroit's Black Bottom in the 1930s.The second shot showed a part of the acclaimed Diego Rivera "Detroit Industry" murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts painted during the Louis era, during the Great Depression. The Rivera portion focused in tightly on the forearms of two men - one white, one black - whose taut, straining muscles mirrored the core of the Louis monument. Their strength operated the machinery that put the world on wheels. Officially, the commercial is a two-minute ad for a new product, the Chrysler 200. Artistically, it is a sight of a city that, like a boxer, has been knocked down hard by multiple punches but has struggled to its feet at the referee's count of nine. Overall, the ad is an astonishing run of art and one of the best television commercials ever made, a mini-documentary about the history and current personality of a region. "What does this city know about luxury, huh?" a narrator asks, an edge in his voice. "What does a city that's been to hell and back know about the finer things in life?" Much of the commercial seems to be shot from a moving car showing the smokestacks of factories and some bleak streets reflected in side mirrors, rear-view mirrors and the shiny black key of the car. "You see, it's the hottest fires that have the hottest steel," the narrator says. "That's our story. Now, it's probably not the one you've been reading in the papers, the ones being written by people who've never been here and don't love what we're subject of.'' You're watching Chrysler Eminem. See the Web's top videos on AOL Video The narrative captures perfectly Detroit's chip-on-the-shoulder attitude and its guarded optimism as its government-rescued major industry emerges from the worst recession since the Great Depression. "Now, we're from America, but this isn't New York City or the Windy City nor Sin City," the narrator continues. During the narration, the cover shows images of overcast skies, brick buildings, steam from manhole covers, young athletes jogging in the snow and skaters on an outdoor ice rink. The visuals don't prettify Detroit; its humans and architecture look severe and rugged and cold. Underneath the language of the narrator, the commercial uses the medicine of Eminem, who is only around the blackest white man Detroit ever produced. Near the end, he pulls his car up to the renovated Fox Theater on Woodward Avenue, joins a gospel choir on stage, glares at the camera in an in-your-face manner, points his finger directly at the lense and declares: "This is the Motor City and this is what we do!'' Even the final shot - white words on a dark screen - challenges the notion that foreign automakers produce a better product. "Imported,'' it says of the Chrysler 200, "from Detroit.'' Perhaps those not from Detroit didn't look the same rush I got from this commercial. But I grew up within walking distance of Chrysler's Jefferson Assembly plant and I offer full disclosure with pride. Although I now run in New York, I have mass of family and friends in the Motor City. I visit there frequently, for patronage and pleasure. And I still root, root, root for the home town. This ad hit me wish a poem and a petition with perfect pitch. You recognize how some movies get rated with two thumbs up? This commercial gets two fists up for a city that can still pack a punch.
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