The Sunday Leader By Sumaya SamarasingheReviewing a film about boxing can be somewhat of a challenge for a person like me who just completely fails to understand what can possibly be so attractive in watching grown men beat each other to pulp.
Sure there are tactics and moves, but there is pain and blood and possibly permanent physical and mental damage…However, The Fighter which is one of the latest films made about boxing, the story is more of a social study of a certain section of society which uses sports, in this case boxing, to claw their way out of poverty. The Fighter by David O Russel is the real story of welterweight boxer Micky Ward played by Wahlberg and his crack and cocaine addicted half brother Dicky, who 10 years before enjoyed his moment of fame when he knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard.
Micky is just a nice guy, a road paver by day who tries his very best to juggle being a divorced father with an angry ex wife. In addition to this, he has to deal with a tough mother ( Melissa Leo, Oscar for Best Supporting Actress) who completely mismanages his career and seven sisters with unforgettable hairdos who just seem to sit around at home and do absolutely nothing.
Christian Bale who plays Dicky has become the king of physical transformation. Previously, the crown would have gone to Robert de Niro who had this habit earlier on in his career to gain and lose weight, shave his head, bulk up etc…
In The Fighter Bale is frightful looking, thin to an extreme, twitching from all over. But on the other hand, his personality is so much more overpowering than his brother’s. He is charming, funny and witty, and that’s what makes people, including his family put up with his crazy antics.Read more
He is also gullible which makes him endearing. Despite being in a pitiful physical state, he actually believes that he will make a comeback and that the HBO crew that is following him around is doing a video on him for that purpose!
You will have to watch the film to understand why the documentary is being made, revealing it would spoil the suspense!
The Fighter is also very watchable because it does not load you with boxing sequences, except for the crucially important last fight. It is also about family, poverty, loyalty and a very dysfunctional group of people who come together for the sake of sport and for the common love of Micky.
Micky’s girlfriend Charlene who does have some obvious issues with her future seven sisters in law and his overbearing mother leads to a memorable catfight on the porch of Charlene’s house. That was perhaps one of the most amusing scenes in the film and thumbs up to Amy Adams who manages to be sexy, trashy and very smart all at once.
Though Bale got a well deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Role as the drug addicted failed boxer, the hero and forgotten one, Mark Walhberg deserves a little credit. At first he may seem emotionless and expressionless with everyone else commanding him and telling him what to do with his life and no one listening to him! Walhberg plays this quiet soul so naturally that he completely becomes Micky, a shy and gentle man who just happens to be a talented boxer.
This film can be enjoyed by both boxing and non boxing fans.
