Million Dollar Baby, Clint Eastwood, Hilary
Swank, Morgan Freeman
This film
has won four Academy Awards and two Golden Globes at the ceremonies of 2005,
together with:
-
Best Performance by an Actress in a
Leading Role- Oscar and Golden globe
-
Best Director- both Academy Award
and Golden Globe
-
Best Motion Picture- AA
-
Best Performance by an Actor in a
Supporting Role- AA
The trio
involved in the production of the movie is formidable.
And the
story is haunting and thought provoking.
Maggie Fitzgerald
is a waitress, coming from a poor background, a family with some serious issues
that become clear in the film.
When Maggie
is in a hospital, the “family” is only visiting because they are concerned
about the money, not the health of the woman who has given them so much and
when she did, they were again concerned that the government might take social
benefits away…
The heroine
wants to become a good boxer.
For that
purpose, she is trying hard to convince boxing coach Frankie Dunn to take her
as a student of…boxing
-
Boxing could be seen as a strange
calling
-
Especially when the boxer is a woman
-
And she is already past thirty to
boot
-
But, she is determined, has
resilience
-
Maggie likes boxing, has strength
and is passionate about it
Nevertheless,
Frankie Dunn aka Clint Eastwood is not interested, even if he could be nudged
by his assistant.
That would
be Morgan Freeman as Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris, a former champion who made it to
the top, or very near it.
-
Maggie Fitzgerald becomes a role
model
-
She works as hard as possible-
indeed, even harder than it is commonly endurable, with long hours at the gym
Frankie Dunn
says that he feels pity for the girl and finally starts trying to improve her
training sessions.
-
Do not contradict me, always listen
to me
-
Move first with this leg, hit and
then move again
-
Always protect yourself
-
Yes, boss!...words to that effect
Maggie keeps
calling the coach boss, but a strong relationship develops between the two
partners, who may in the end be in love with each other.
Whether that
is just paternal and filial love respectively, I am not sure.
But the
trainer wanted to keep as much of a distance as possible to begin with, by
having someone else as manager.
Seeing though
that the results were not wonderful, Frankie Dunn becomes more and more
involved with his boxer.
Maggie gets
better and better, but the fights are vicious, she takes blows at the head, the
bleeding is terrible.
But she
does have a few excellent punches and manages to throw down opponents with
astonishing speed.
Her ascension
is fantastic and she earns enough money to buy a house, which she gives to her
mother and relatives.
Only that
woman is evil and not just ungrateful, but critical of this gift and
admonishing her daughter for her occupation:
-
Why did you buy the house??!
-
I wanted you to have it
-
Where is the fridge?
-
It will come
-
You know, when they find out, they
will cut the social benefits!!
-
You know what, sell it if you don’t
want it and take the money!!
After this,
Maggie has a shot at the World Championship Title, but she meets in the final a
boxer with no ethics and no respect for any rules.
That woman
is so vicious and the referee and officials so useless that even though she is
inferior to Maggie, she manages to hit her in instances when the game is
stopped, whenever it is not permitted and against the rules.
Until finally,
during a moment when Maggie is not careful, knowing though that the fight is
interrupted, that killer manages, yet again, to throw an illegal punch and sent
Maggie into a chair, with an injury that paralyzes the heroine.
-
It now becomes a story about
euthanasia
-
Is it worth living in a bed for the
rest of her life?
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