Review

Review Date: 30-January-05
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

When I first saw Dead Poets Society in 1989, I shed a few tears during the movie like a normal person and after, in the bathroom, broke right down and cried. What got me was the thought of a young person roughly my age looking into his future and seeing none of the things that might make his life worth living. Fifteen years later, I can blame (thank?) Clint Eastwood for causing me to relive that experience with Million Dollar Baby. What got me this time was the flip side of the coin: the thought of an older person roughly my age looking into her past and seeing, by hard-won miracle, all of the things that made her life worthwhile.

Eastwood's films don't always affect me so much, but I will say this for his talent as a director: he has an uncanny ability to create fully imagined microcosms that envelop and transport his audience. In Million Dollar Baby, he meticulously describes the rhythms and rituals of a boxing gym and the world of professional fighting in a way that is absolutely seductive. Building upon Paul Haggis' script, which contains as much detail as humor and emotion, Eastwood sprinkles enchantment on his gritty settings until your blood races with the tempo of their orchestrated violence. Ultimately, he finds beauty in the mastery of body and mind, and poignancy in the brotherhood of those who attempt it.

The central characters of the film don't just attempt boxing, they live for it. The gym is owned by Frankie Dunn (Eastwood) and managed by Scrap (Morgan Freeman), two crusty old guys who have been around the block a time or two and seen countless fighters rise and fall. Each has learned in his own way that life itself is a fight, which makes them fitting mentors for Maggie (Hilary Swank), a lonely, determined, 31-year-old former hick who crashes the gym and insists on making herself noticed. Maggie's only (long) shot at being somebody is in the ring, and after Frankie reluctantly agrees to train her she blossoms into a KO machine headed straight for the top. As the team's star rises, their personal relationship deepens, becoming the focus of the story. (Backed by Eastwood's curmudgeon twinkle and Swank's knack for naiveté, the two share a wonderful chemistry.)

Million Dollar Baby is a nuanced fairy tale for three-fourths of its running time, hitting modest highs and lows and tugging at the heart with a simple tale of people finding relief from their suffering. The last part feels more powerful and thus quite different, although the conclusion fits the movie as a whole. Here Eastwood's themes of fear and redemption come to their devastating conclusion; here the question of what makes life worth living finds its unforgettable answer. The last act is the only one in which the movie stumbles (e.g., the second appearance of Maggie's family is overkill), but it's also a large part of what makes it so moving. Overall, Million Dollar Baby is somewhat fractured but consistently well crafted. It had me at hello and slew me at good-bye.

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.