Clint Eastwood Displays His Talent Again

Rating: 9/10 (12 April 2005)

I really consider Clint Eastwood as one of the most charismatic persons of the film industry. While starting up with macho roles in movies like "Dirty Hurry" and "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly", he completely changed course later on and started doing very sophisticated, and even art, films, such as "Mystic River" and "Bird".
"Million Dollar Baby" is a prime example of Clistwood's genius. The story is about Maggie (Swank), a female boxer, who has nothing else in her life than her boxing talent. Frankie Dunn (Eastwood) is a tired, old coach, whom she approaches and he grudgingly decides to take her after Eddie "Scrup-Iron" (Freeman), his assistant and pal, persuades him to. The girl proves to be a very promising athlete, and she climbs the ladder of success very swiftly. Frankie starts to feel very close with her, as she reminds him of his long-gone daughter. Things however get very nasty when Maggie suffers from a serious accident, and everything now gets turned upside down...
All the Oscars in this film (nominations and winnings), are well deserved: Eastwood provides us with an A-class direction, as he portrays us a dark world of losers where boxing is their only way for them to feel they have a purpose in life. The leading trio (Eastwood, Swank, Freeman) are so superb in their roles, that it is almost impossible for me to distinguish among them. All in all, the film describes a sad story, very well told, which cannot leave you untouched. 9/10.