Don’t miss this powerful film

Daniel Day-Lewis in The Boxer

By Ervell E. Menezes

WHAT’s in a name, they say. But it does count. If you go to see The Boxer you’ll expect an updated version of Rocky or The Raging Bull. Nothing of the sort. There is hardly 10 minutes of boxing in the film. That’s how misleading the title of the film is. The Boxer is another excellent film on the Anglo-Irish political turmoil in the same mould as In the Name of the Father, Some Mother’s Son and Michael Collins and like the first two mentioned films it is scripted by Jim Sheridan and Terry George.

It is a love story about Danny Flynn (Daniel Day-Lewis), a boxer and an IRA activist who has been in jail for 14 years and Maggie Hamill (Emily Watson), his childhood sweetheart now married to his best friend who is currently in prison.

When I met British flilmmaker John Irwin at our IFFI outings (either at Bombay or Delhi) he told me that there was a ban on making films on the Irish issue but apparently that ban has also been lifted. With the new peace treaty signed in September, one hopes, the horrors of war and terrorism will only be a thing of the past. In recent times there have been some soul-searching dramas on this Anglo-Irish conflict. They only underline the fact that religious strife can be demonic. Don’t we know the number of bloody wars fought by the Crusades all in the name of religion?

In just over a year there have been some Hollywood masterpieces. Take In the Name of the Father, also directed by Jim Sheridan. It is a true story of four Irish friends framed by the police for blowing up a pub in Guildford and how it took years for justice to prevail. Then there is The Devil’s Own in which Brad Pitt plays the Irish terrorist sent on a mission to the United States where American cop Harrison Ford is forced to become his partner in crime. Michael Collins is about the young Irish revolutionary of the early 20th century who becomes a martyr by being assassinated by his own IRA folk. This Neil Jordan film also marked the emergence of Liam Neeson as a leading star after his successful hitherto then cameo roles.

But the best of them all is undoubteldy Some Mother’s Son directed by Terry George. It is about ten IRA men who starved to death under the leadership of Bobby Sands. Eventually it took the mothers of these fasting-unto-death IRA prisoners to call off the fast. Says Todd McCarthy of Variety magazine, "the action is dominated by the realities of domestic violence, prison life and a prolonged hunger strike, all of which are box office negatives."

Now we all know that cinema is not meant only to entertain. It also informs and these docudramas serve a useful purpose. The Boxer isn’t likely to break any box office records like The Titanic but the fare it provides is both revealing and thought-provoking. This is what the synopses says about the story:

"Now, after 14 years in prison, former IRA member Danny is returning to the neighbourhood where Maggie has managed to survive by marrying, and raising a son by Danny’s best friend. Ill at ease in the outside world, Danny is imploding from 14 years of seclusion. Cultural taboos and unwritten rules militate against Maggie and Danny. Friends, family and IRA members watch their every move, observing their forbidden glances."

In a world where violence is a way of life, the most dangerous thing they can do is fall in love. And that as you may have guessed by now is precisely what they do. That is the conflict and it is adroutly handed by Jim Sheridan. At parties it is the IRAmen who protect the wives of prisoners. Can Danny be an exception? Things are further complicated when Maggie’s son Liam, sees Danny and Maggie kissing. Will Danny run away with his mother, is his uppermost thought. Shades of Vittorio DeSica’s The Children are Watching Us, it is a sensitive human drama and the plight of the two lovers comes across most throbbingly.

The ending is somewhat convenient and contributes to a fine cinematic climax but it is the human drama and how many of them just die in despair that comes across so realistically. Daniel Day-Lewis, his fair cut short, provides a new profile physically from the ones in The last of the Mohicans and ‘My Left Foot’ but Day-Lewis the actor has lost none of his acting skills. Underplaying the part well he does an excellent job and is ably supported by Ermily Watson as the woman in the hours of dilemma. And though the boxing is confined to the minimum, the Irish have made it possible to sing their favourite song Oh Danny Boy at the commencement of one of Danny’s fights and it really brings a lump to the throat. I wouldn’t rate the film above Some Mother’s Son but it certainly is powerful film. Lovers of cinema just cannot afford to miss it.