Review of Southpaw (2015) by Dean W — 15 Aug 2015
I was thinking that this film seems to suggest that in order for a father to take responsibility for his family, his wife needs to die first. It presupposes that the woman/wife/mother is responsible for taking care of the family, and would continue to do so-unless she died, which would naturally delegate responsibility to the man/father.
As such, it is only in the event of her death that the father/man would assume the responsibilities of the family. The boxing then, represents the difficulty of assuming the new role. He doesn't fight for the title of lightweight champion, rather he fights for the title of fatherhood.
The film then, does something countless films have done in order to make some point, which is to render the female body disposable. Billy has a coming of age, but only at the expense of his wife.
This review of Southpaw (2015) was written by Dean W on 15 Aug 2015.
Southpaw has generally received positive reviews.
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