The Fighter

Bea says: Not a film I would have actually chosen to see, but it happened to be on at the right time in the right place - 6pm at the Beach Theatre (ca 1940), St Pete's Beach, Florida. It was a downright cool day for Florida and as Cecil and I had celebrated escaping the winter chill of DC by breaking out our spring clothes for a weekend in the Sunshine State, we needed somewhere warm and out of the wind to spend a couple of hours. "The Fighter" it was then.

I was somewhat mollified when I discovered the film was based on a true story - likely to make it better, I thought. And in fact, from the opening credits, I was gripped. The film itself is partly told in documentary style, through the lens of a reality TV film crew who are following the Ward family, and partly in the usual narrative style, as we follow Mickey's (Christian Bale) last ditch effort to make something of his boxing career, and his older has-been brother Dickey's descent into crack addiction and prison as he clings on to his greatest moment - "knocking down" Sugar Ray Leonard in a fight years ago.

Mickey's fights are interesting, although require a strong stomach to watch, but even more interesting is the focus on the relationship between the brothers. It isn't often that the complex nature of sibling relationships is explored this well, and I found much to reflect upon afterwards with Cecil, over burritos and Coronas at a nearby Mexican cantina. I also felt it was a good, honest portrayal of working class life in the USA; a life I could relate to from my own working class upbringing in suburban Australia.

Surprisingly, this film about boxing in the 1990s said a lot to me. Definitely recommended, and it just goes to show that occasionally seeing a film you think you won't like is a good exercise.
***1/2

Cecil says: I love these independent cinemas in the States. Ironically, The Beach is in a more affluent part of the country than some of the other restored palaces we have been to recently, but this cinema, built just before America joined the War, in 1940, was extremely simple in its decor. Nothing of the Byrd in Richmond, here.

But the locals clearly love the place and it was at least three quarters full for this docu-film on a 1990s boxing family I had never heard of.

I wasn't as gripped as Bea early on; I don't like the making-a-film-within-a-film gimmick, so was put off by the cameras following the boxing brothers around. I also felt uncomfortable at the family, though I'm sure I was supposed to be. Too many memories of families I had sat in on in Hull or Brighton over the years which had a similar dynamic designed to exclude outsiders.

So this time I identified with the young brother's girlfriend, though she was a lot more ballsy than I would ever have managed to be in similar circumstances. Pretty brave to jump onto one of the sisters when the other 6 sisters are poised to beat you up...

The fighting is pretty gruesome, as Bea says, but the whole tale was gripping. Hell, I even wanted the American to win by the end, even though he was probably fighting against a Brit in the title fight at the end. But this film was more to do with family than with nationality, and it's the evolving relationships between brothers, parents, sisters and girlfriend that carry you along.

And even the little clip of an interview with the real brothers right at the end was touching; and actually proved how well studied the parts were, and how well the actors recreated the characters.

***