Plot Intro
Ageing boxing trainer, Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) loses his protegee because he is too reticent in pushing the aspiring boxer towards higher-level matches. To make up for this, he is persuaded by his best friend Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris (Morgan Freeman) to train an impoverished but passionate woman named Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank). But as she starts to achieve great success, tragedy strikes…
It’s 2004! Facebook is launched. Lost and Desperate Housewives first appeared on TV. Justin Timberlake accidentally exposed Janet Jackson’s boob. But meanwhile, in Hollywood, Clint Eastwood is continuing his consistently-successful six-decade career with a critically acclaimed sports movie that defeated The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Ray and Sideways to win Best Picture.
Eastwood is an excellent filmmaker because he’s unpredictable. He has the perennial media image of the ultimate “tough guy”, equivalent to John Wayne and Bruce Lee. But it’s surprising how frequently he dissects this image of masculinity and shows layers of sensitivity and humanity underneath. He did this in Unforgiven (our last encounter with his film-making in 1992), and in Gran Torino, an outstanding 2008 film about a grumpy, xenophobic old miser coming to the aid of a Korean community on his street.
Million Dollar Baby is no exception. It is a film ultimately about strength, with the motif of boxing being the stereotypical, macho image of winning through physical prowess and disciplined aggression. The common types of “strength” abound. Maggie herself is stoically optimistic despite her horrendous upbringing and Frankie’s resistance to being her boxing guru; the younger, more able boxers mock and overpower a character called Danger, a young man with learning difficulties who cannot box to save his life but lives in the belief that he will one day be the next Rocky; Frankie is frequently preached to by his Catholic pastor who urges him to endure suffering and maintain faith in God.
But true strength, as Eastwood demonstrates, sometimes manifests in the most unlikely of ways. Scrap’s defence of Danger, and allowing the young disabled man to essentially be a resident of a boxing gym, shows strength in honour. Frankie teaches Maggie that boxing is not just about how hard you punch but requires greater skills in agility, strategy and quick decision-making. Frankie eventually rejects the usual Catholic teachings of strength through suffering to commit his final act of “sin”, proving that sometimes true strength comes in knowing when to give up and move on.
These philosophical musings ooze out of the story slowly and steadily, so that the film begins as a pretty conventional rags-to-riches sports movie before developing in surprising and unexpected ways into something truly deep and emotional. It is helped by the fact that both Eastwood and Swank are awesome. They play off each other beautifully and Swank especially shows nuance and multiple emotions even when she is motionless and bed-bound. They are easily the best male-female pairing in our projects since Hopkins and Foster in The Silence of the Lambs.
Like most Eastwood offerings, this is a beautiful film, skilfully lulling its audience into thinking they know exactly how things will pan out, and proving them wrong. Maybe it doesn’t have a huge socio-political statement to make (although you could make an argument for the film’s final scene), but its thoughtful, exciting and sweet-natured. Even at 89 years old, Eastwood is able to stay relevant in Hollywood.
Highlight
The scene in which Scrap defends Danger against a group of bullies trying to demonstrate their physical superiority is a lovely sub-plot.
Lowlight
Nothing at all- this is a tender, well-paced and beautifully-constructed piece.
Mark
10/10
It’s quite odd how we’ve now had two boxing-related films (Rocky and Million Dollar Baby) and while I’ve been prepared to heartily dislike them owing to my avid dislike of sports, I’ve actually ended up really enjoying and being sucked in by both.
Million Dollar Baby is depressing. Let’s get that out the way. It’s bleak and by the end everything is wretched and miserable. But somehow it’s gripping and Swank is so utterly believable as someone who discounts herself as ‘trash’ but then also has a drive and a ferociousness that ensures she must succeed. I understand why people have attacked the ending and wished for something more optimistic, but having spent the film with these characters, every choice and desire they show feels accurate for these specific people.
I’ve discovered a real respect for Clint Eastwood with the handful of films I’ve seen from his portfolio. They’re beautifully shot, with a surprising amount of tenderness underneath the displays of masculinity. It’s present in the way everyone responds to the lone woman in the boxing gym, and in the way Frankie wrestles with the final challenge laid out to him by Maggie. I loved how the film threads everything together, even down to Scrap (a superb Morgan Freeman) getting his 110th fight and Frankie’s antagonistic relationship with the priest. It all comes together in a way that feels organic and unforced, and even ends on a note of ambiguity - are we actually seeing Frankie in the diner, or do we just wish that we do?
Eastwood and Freeman are on top form, and I’m actually surprised Eastwood didn’t get a nod for Best Supporting Actor. However this really is Swank’s film, and she launches herself with gusto at it. She lights up with joy constantly, captivating everyone around her, and then in the final third of the film, when we see her incapacitated, Swank brings in a sudden slowness and monotony to her performance, an underlying feeling of depression and hopelessness, fading to the background of scenes as Frankie becomes desperate in trying to save her. In the end, there’s a sense of no one winning - except for ‘Danger’ Dillard who comes back to the gym to try - against all the odds - to carry on training under Scrap’s protection. It’s a little note of kindness that shines a dim light in what is otherwise an oppressively dark ending.
Highlight
Swank’s performance throughout - particularly in the torturous moments when she deals with her horrendous mother (a stellar, dowdy performance from Margo Martindale).
Lowlight
The final third of the film is slower on purpose but there are moments when it does begin to drag.
Mark
9/10
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