This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Paulet Wairagu
So I finally watched AlphaGo, that documentary about the Google DeepMind AI that took on the world champion in Go, and honestly… I didn’t expect to enjoy it this much. I thought it would be one of those “tech bros hype themselves” films, but wueh, it’s actually deep.
First things first,the game itself. Go is like chess on steroids. Watching those pros talk about it felt like watching athletes explaining how they breathe. The amount of strategy, intuition, and reading the board… it made me respect the game a lot more. And the way the documentary broke it down for normal people? Lovely. Even those of us who have never touched a Go board can follow the tension.
Then there's Lee Sedol. Man, that guy carried the emotional weight of the whole thing. You feel the pressure on him — not just to win, but to defend human creativity. The guy literally said he felt like he was playing on behalf of everyone. That scene where he loses a game and walks out looking completely defeated? Your heart just sinks. Been there, that feeling of “I did everything and still lost.”
And then AlphaGo. The AI itself almost feels like a character. Quiet, calculating, no hype, just vibes and probabilities. The wild part is when it makes those “impossible” moves that even the Go masters can’t understand. Move 37 especially — the commentators looked like they’d seen witchcraft. Even Sedol was like, “No human plays like that.” That’s the moment I realized AI isn’t just copying; sometimes it’s genuinely creating.
But my favourite part is how the doc doesn’t frame it as “humans vs robots.” It shows how the match changed how humans think. After the loss, the pros started studying AlphaGo games and discovering new strategies. Like the AI unlocked creativity instead of killing it. That hit me because we’re in that same AI era now — people thinking AI is coming to take all jobs, yet here we are, learning new ways of thinking from it.
Cinematography was also clean — the slow, quiet shots, the close-ups, the music. It’s not rushed or over-dramatic. Just calm, like meditation.
If you like strategy, tech, psychology, or you just want to see a human fight for dignity against a machine, this is a solid watch. It’s not a hype documentary; it’s a thoughtful one. Emotion, tension, and a bit of “eish, surely, how is an algorithm beating a whole world champion?”
Highly recommend.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Paulet Wairagu
Paulet Wairagu | Sciencx (2025-11-26T18:47:57+00:00) THINKING GAME DOCUMENTARY: MY REVIEW. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/11/26/thinking-game-documentary-my-review/
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