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Director Ron Howard tugs at viewers’ heartstrings with the absorbing human-interest story of boxer Jim Braddock, writes Ervell E. Menezes
SO, it’s another pugilist punch movie like Raging Bull or The Rockys or more recently Million Dollar Baby, but being set during the Great American Depression gives Cinderella Man that much more teeth. Didn’t novelist Damon Runyon say "in all the history of the boxing game, you’ll find no human interest story to compare with the life narrative of James J. Braddock." And rightly so. Australian actor Russell Crowe virtually relives the role of Jim Braddock whose claim to fame was that he lost to the Brown Bomber Joe Louis in a fight for the heavyweight title of the world. From the opening shot, from freeze to action, director Ron Howard tugs at the viewer’s heart strings with the warmth and humanity of the man, his love for his family, and the graphically recreated ambience of those bitter, cold, heartless Depression days. Howard and Crowe were together in A Beautiful Mind. When the eldest of the three loving children steals from the butcher, he goes with him to the butcher to return the steak cut. "We don’t steal, no matter whatever happens, ever," he tells his boy showing his steel-like integrity in the face of adversity. When he breaks his right wrist during a bout, he has to hide it in order to get work in the docks. Why, he was even forced to go on Public Relief to put the food on the table for his family. It is against this backdrop that Howard narrates the slugfest story of this great boxer that climaxes in a bout with Max Bear, the man believed to have killed two men in the ring. But boxing gets its due footage, punch-happy, sweat-swishing, gloves-clashing in a blood and thunder sport that was almost akin to Christians being thrown to the lions. Maybe this aspect could have been reduced a bit and that is the only minus point in a deeply moving drama of life and its old values which must be doubly appreciated in these ruthless dog-eat-dog days of "success at all costs." Renee Zellweger, who has now become a versatile character actress, plays his harried but supportive wife Mae who weathers many a storm facing adversity. It is a story of courage against indefatigable odds which made Braddock a national hero as he provided a ray of hope to a depressed nation, and hence the title Cinderella Man. It is an excellent screenplay by Akiva Goldsman that covers a whole gamut of heart-rending sequences, not the least being his love for his three children. The depths of poverty have to be seen to be believed and Russell Crowe being Russell Crowe has mastered the art of character acting, be it in The Insider, A Beautiful Mind or The Gladiator to become a modern-day Paul Muni. And he is brilliantly supported by Renee Zellweger, by now also a veteran performer and Paul Giamatti. It is surprising that Hollywood should have waited so long to bring out this story. You may have to endure the gory action, but even then don’t miss Cinderella Man. It is films like this that reiterate one’s faith in human nature. |
