Jim Braddock - people's champion

Rating: 7/10 (11 April 2007)

If you are a fan of movies with a heart, such as Rocky or Seabiscuit, you will like Cinderella Man. Directed by Ron Howard, this movie is about gentleman Jim Braddock (Russell Crowe) who shows his dogged determination to overcome his underdog status in life and in the ring. After falling from a comfortable life with the onset of the Depression, he becomes an older and humbler man who must draw deep from within for the courage to eke out a living and do what is required for his wife and family.
In his struggle, he has the undying support of his personal pillars - his wife (Renee Zellweger) and his trainer and friend (Paul Giamatti). Through it all, he never loses his large reserve of common sense or gives in to despair. He is rescued from the indignity of having to line up for work on a loading dock when he is offered the chance for comeback. Dismissed as a has-been, he struggles to regain his form. All along, the future of his wife and three children are uppermost in his mind.
Before seeing this movie, I knew about the greats of the heavyweight boxing world...Johnston, Dempsey, Louis, Marciano and Ali but now, the name of Jim Braddock will come to mind. He was the hero of the downtrodden of New York (many were Irish like him) in the midst of the depression. He was a classy guy who went on to enjoy personal success. No one could deserve it more. In the Frank Capra tradition, this movie does what Hollywood does best, that is to inspire and show us how one individual can triumph in an ugly world.