Review of Million Dollar Baby (2004) by Rollingstone82 — 19 Aug 2010

The greatest contemporary tragedy of 21st century cinema thus far.

Inspirational movies are always the top choice with conscious parents who want their kids to be well influenced. I don't deny it. Usually, inspirational films involve sports. Which is okay because I like films like Hoosiers and Rocky. But the biggest fault with such movies is that they follow a formula too often. The joy of watching them is lost because we pretty much know what to expect. I don't like sports films because of this: everytime, there is a sad and pathetic team lifted up by a bright coach. The dialogue when not in inspirational mode then becomes dull and boring. Sports films ultimately make me feel cheated because the real movie is only available in parts thanks to a cliched and overcooked story.

This film is not about sports. It isn't unusual because great films ironically don't have much to do with sports (Raging Bull is the best example). And Million Dollar Baby is drama. Well-played and tearjerking drama.

The film stars Clint Eastwood as a down-on-luck boxing trainer, Frank Dunn. He has the most thankless role in the sport and struggles to make contact with his daughter, after years of turmoil. His buddy, ex-boxer "Scrap Iron" (Morgan Freeman) is his moral support, the man with sense in the atmosphere of despair and loss. Then comes Maggie (Hilary Swank), a waitress who aspires to be a professional boxer but cannot due to her age and the fact that she is a woman. Maggie, despite Frank's refusal to train her, persists by training every day ignoring the jeers of the other boxers. Finally Scrap convinces Frank to train her and what follows is a journey of persistence, love, and ultimately tragedy.

The whole atmosphere of Million Dollar Baby is dark. There is hardly any vivid color. It is a tense time of strain and despair. And that is what Eastwood wants us to feel. There is no happiness. This is reality in one of the harshest degrees. Even the screenplay says so. But when Maggie and Frank work together, things take a slight turn towards the light. Both Frank and Maggie have a lack of connection with their respective families. Frank's daughter is ashamed of Frank while Maggie's family mocks her for her profession while living off her profits. Frank and Maggie's working relationship as trainer and trainee transitions into an ideal father-daughter relationship, something that both lacked. Frank finds Maggie as the daughter he lost and Maggie finds Frank as the father she never had. And it is this relationship that rises the movie above its inspirational/sports film genre. And when all fell down, I never felt the same. I felt as depressed as Frank was by the end of the movie.

It is impossible to have an inspirational film without its appropriate actors. For Eastwood, it is another performance that doesn't require excessive emotionality. But he fits perfectly as a pessimistic boxer who seamlessly transforms into a man with heart and back again. But he would not have gained the heart had it not been for his support. Morgan Freeman does another wonderful performance as a supporting actor. He proves to be a man of strength, vitality, and sense. But Swank is the movie (her role is also referenced in the movie's title). She wants to prove she is a capable boxer despite gender and age. She, like Frank, is caught in the grasps of pain but tries to ease it by becoming a great boxer. And when the pain is almost victorious, the way she begged Frank to "release" her made me cry not out of mere sympathy but love.

One point a critic may point out is the inconsistency of Maggie's role as she evolves from a person of inspiration to a depressed, hospitalized, and suicidal patient. But the movie inside isn't inspirational, in a sense. It is an assessment of human and societal nature and how two people struggle to survive in such hostile environments that eventually gets the better of them. The inspirational note in the film is not a victory but a message of hope that the world will change its ways for the better.