Million dollar baby jay baruchel11/13/2022 ![]() ![]() Taken altogether, Million Dollar Baby is a Hollywood at its best. So says than narrator, Morgan Freeman (who also took home an Oscar for best supporting actor), playing Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris, a retired boxer working in Frankie’s gym as a cleaner. “everything in boxing is backwards, sometimes the best way to deliver a punch is to step back.” Getting it for yourself… and taking it away from the other guy.” It’s the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you.” “If there’s magic in boxing, it’s the magic of fighting battles beyond endurance, beyond cracked ribs, ruptured kidneys, and detached retinas. Hillary Swank deserved her best actress Oscar for paying Maggie, an aspiring boxer fiercely determined to escape her trailer park background.īoxing is used throughout as a metaphor for life: As well as directing, Eastwood plays the lead role of Frankie, an ageing boxing coach, and although we’ve seen his ‘grumpy exterior/soft as butter interior’ old man act before, it remains a delight to experience his often-wordless communication a glance, a raised eyebrow, a grunt, speaking volumes. It’s unhurried storytelling, but always compelling. Eastwood elicits mood by careful use of a dark pallet, contrasts in shadow and light, and a pared down soundtrack. Sometimes it helps to know what’s coming.Īs a movie, it’s certainly of the highest quality. If you haven’t seen it by now, you might consider watching it before reading on – although I knew the ending before seeing it, and, frankly, I’m glad I did. What else it is, all it is, how deep it goes, what emotional power it contains, I cannot suggest in this review, because I will not spoil the experience of following this story into the deepest secrets of life and death. It is narrated by a former boxer who is the trainer’s best friend. It tells the story of an aging fight trainer and a hillbilly girl who thinks she can be a boxer. Celebrity film critic, Roger Ebert, said of the movie:Ĭlint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby” is a masterpiece, pure and simple, deep and true. Eastwood is a director whose films have gotten better as he aged, and Million Dollar Baby is no exception. As part of the class I teach on theology and popular culture, we watched Clint Eastwood’s Oscar award-winning 2004 film Million Dollar Baby. ![]()
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