Every bit for the family

Rating: 8/10 (23 October 2012)

The movie is about the boxer James J. Braddock (Jim), the once down and out boxer who re-enters the ring purely for keeping his family alive and together. It is his love for his wife and three kids that sees him go on to become the world champion. What appealed to me was not the gory boxing bouts, shot realistically, but the tender sentiments of a man who promises to his eldest son never to let go of him, even in the worst of situations. The father keeps that promise!
Some of the most touching scenes: the moment Jim takes his son to the butcher shop to return the salami he stole and there outside promises never to let go of him; getting ready for the fight, on an empty stomach, he eats from the bowl straight with his mouth; when he tells his daughter a dream about him eating full and then drops his share of meat into her plate for her (thereby going hungry himself); when Mae enters the Church to pray for Jim and is told that so are all those who are there; the silence when Jim enters the ring for the championship bout...
All said and done why this movie appealed to me so much was not the movie itself (though superb acting by Crowe, Zewellger and Paul Giamatti) but because the movie in every way showed me what Papa was to us in our younger days. The same grit, same passion, the only dream to see us all happy and contented, the same LOVE MY PARENTS had for the family, especially when the going was tough! I still remember the days when money was hard in coming. Yet we, my brother and I, always had good things (not the best) but the way Papa and Mummy slogged for us, that what they gave us was the best of all! They fasted or ate stale food so that we could have the fresh meal. Rain or sun, cough or fever, nothing prevented Papa from going to work (each day counted).
Thank you Papa and Mummy... for what you were, are and what you made of us!
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