Review of Million Dollar Baby (2004) by Daniel R — 07 Mar 2011

To be perfectly honest, I was somewhat skeptical about this film going in. Don't get me wrong, I love Clint Eastwood's work both as an actor and director, but I just wasn't sure how good a film about a female boxer was going to be. Turns out I had no reason to be the least bit worried. Million Dollar Baby is a masterpiece.

Hilary Swank plays Maggie, a Missouri woman nearing the age of 32 who is a waitress but aspires to be a boxer. She desperately wants to be trained by Frankie (Eastwood), but he refuses to train her ("I don't train girls," he growls). Maggie is stubborn, however, and refuses to let up. She becomes a member at the gym Frankie trains his fighters at and catches the attention of Eddie (Morgan Freeman), a former boxer who lost an eye in his 109th fight of his career. He shows her some basics and slyly suggests to Frankie that he should give her a chance, which he finally does.

The greatest achievement of this film is that it creates to magnificent characters in Frankie and Maggie and also creates for them an equally magnificent relationship. We learn about them as they learn about each other, and their entire relationship unfolds before us in all of its beautiful, heartfelt, and tragic stages. Few films have given me characters that I feel I care deeply about. This is one of those films.

The reason these characters and this relationship works so well is because it isn't just about a boxer and her trainer. This is about a woman who comes from nothing and knows she's trash, and yet wants to be better anyway. This makes her a remarkable person, fictional or otherwise, because most people are taught today to just be what they are and tell anyone who doesn't like it to go to hell. Maggie is who she is to be sure, but she wants to be better and is willing to fight to be that, and anyone who doesn't like it can go to hell. Except for Frankie.

Frankie is a trainer who typically cares too much about his fighters and is afraid to see what can happen to them. We learn more about why this is as the film progresses so I won't spoil it. Frankie, we find out, also has a daughter whom he never sees, and yet writes to her constantly, only to have said letters sent back. You can imagine why these two character aspects would make him very hesitant to take on Maggie, but he eventually does. The thing is, he needs her, and she needs him. "You're all I got, Frankie." she tells him. The feeling is mutual.

This is a beautiful film about two people who need each other to lean on, because that's an element to getting better so many of us don't want to admit to needing. This isn't a romance, but it is certainly a love story of sorts. She is the daughter he doesn't have and he is the father she lost. She is his redemption and he is her guide, even is she's too hard-headed to listen all the time.

I don't want to conclude this review without also giving credit to Morgan Freeman, who's retired boxer, Eddie, won him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and rightfully so. He is excellent. Eddie is also a need these two characters have, though not in a loving sense. He has the wisdom to push these two people into working together, and then he stands aside to watch. He is another wonderfully realized person in this film.

Million Dollar Baby is one of the finest films of the last decade and a worthy Best Picture winner. Clint Eastwood is one of the most gifted artists in the film industry, both as an actor and a director, and both of those aspects are masterfully at work in this film. No one should miss this film.