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If you’ve enjoyed Raging Bull and the Rocky films (though they became too much) here’s another pugilists delight. But this year’s Best Picture Oscar winner Million Dollar Baby is something more, in the best traditions of filmmaker Clint Eastwood whose debut film was Play Misty For Me way back in the 1970s. When determined waitress Maggie Fitzgerald (Hillary Swank) decides to become a boxer and hopes trainer Frankie Dunn (Eastwood) would help her out she is quite mistaken. Dunn will have none of it. He just doesn’t train women. But with friendly persuasion from an ex-boxer (Morgan Freeman) he changes his mind. May be, he thinks, Maggie will fill the void created by his daughter who refuses to communicate with her dad and sends back all his letters unopened, "return sender." Maggie’s obsession with boxing springs from frustration and wanting to prove herself. Growing up thinking she was just trash, her mother and sister are not exactly supportive of her, her only glad moments having been spent with her dad, now dead. So Frankie becomes a sort of surrogate dad to her. Both are strong characters. "I want a trainer, I don’t want charity and I don’t want favours," Maggie tells him and he responds with "tough ain’t enough." But he gradually softens and after her success (when she hits them they stay hit, usually in the first round) the bond grows stronger and just when you think you are heading for the making of a champ there’s a sudden twist or detour in the plot. From slam-bang action the film switches modes and goes deep into the hidden recesses of the mind. It has social and psychological overtones in a way reminiscent of Peter Fonda’s Western The Hired Hand. It is deeply thought-provoking to say the least and Paul Haggis’ screenplay adapts well to the changed situation. In fact it is brilliant right through, managing to capture the essence of life on the lonely road. With Hillary Swank in the lead role it is smooth-sailing from the outset. The woman who set Hollywood ablaze with Boys Don’t Cry nearly a decade ago was missing all these years while new-find colleague Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted) continued to make waves. But Swank seems to have made up for lost time and turns in an impeccable performance which deservingly won her the Best Actress Oscar (two nominations, two wins like Vivien Leigh and Helen Hayes). Clint Eastwood does an excellent job as he underplays the loner who finds light at the end of the tunnel and Morgan Freeman is as usual adept in this nice cameo, also winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in the bargain. Cinematographer Tom Stens
also adds his bit to the compelling drama which really touches the heart
with that powerful climax. To say more would be to reveal it but Million
Dollar Baby is an absolute must for cinema buffs. |
