Excellent Portrayal of The Great Depression!

Rating: 10/10 (28 March 2006)

When I finally watched Cinderella Man on DVD I found myself living all over again the essence of the Great Depression! I am an 80 year old woman, whose widowed mother was left to raise two daughters on income derived from a renting a brownstone building in Brooklyn in the 30s as a rooming house. Large rooms were $5.00 per week. Hall bedrooms were rented for $2.00 per week. Even at these low prices, tenants were unable to pay their rent on a timely basis. Since our livelihood depended on the rents, when the rent was not forthcoming we were left without sufficient food to feed us. Some of the tenants existed on help from the Welfare system, but used their rent money for things other than their rent sometimes. I say all of this to explain why I could relate to the scenes where Jim Braddock and his family did not have milk or sufficient food for the family. I cried during my viewing of this film, because of its truthfulness in depicting these conditions in their reality.
I wish that this film could be distributed again so that more people could see it! I think that the title Cinderella Man, though it was the title given to Jim Braddock, was partly the reason people may not have been attracted to it. I know that when I saw the title, I was not particularly interested in seeing it. Now, I could kick myself for not adding to its financial support so that it could have had
its due as an Oscar contender.
Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, and the complete cast did the film proud!! Their interpretations were right on and so natural, I felt everything as it unfolded. Especially compelling was the Max Baer championship fight. I watched this film in my bed and I watched the fight as if I had never heard about any of it before. I jumped up and down and yelled when the two fighters fought fiercely to survive.I hate to watch violence and especially Boxing events, but there I was!
This film is magnificent!! A Masterpiece Beatrice