A Movie to Admire More Than To Love

Rating: 9/10 (3 April 2005)

Million Dollar Baby is not a boxing movie. It is a character study. Now Rocky was a boxing movie. A poor young kid with "heart" gets a shot at the title, becomes a contender and triumphs over all the odds. Rocky's journey to triumph was the whole point of the exercise and that is what makes the film a boxing movie. Baby on the other hand, while steeped in boxing and its milieu, doesn't care about winning or being a contender. What it cares about are the people who live with the sport and how this world affects them, their attitudes and their actions.
Frankie Dunn is a boxing promoter. He's a tough old geezer and one of the best in his field. His one flaw is a serious drawback in his line of work. He doesn't like to see his fighters get hurt. Frankie's life is an endless cycle of developing young fighters only to be abandoned when he refuses to take them to the next level out of fear for their safety. One day Maggie Fitzgerald wanders into his gym. She's a youngish woman who wants to be a boxer. No, she wants to be a winner and she is more than willing to do whatever it takes to become one. Despite his years, his experience and his distaste for training a "girly" Frankie is no match for Maggie's tenacity and soon finds himself with a determined protégé who begins her swift rise to the top. This is only part of the story however. Events occur that test these two in ways far crueler than the force of a heavyweight's punch.
It has to be said that neither Hilary Swank nor Morgan Freeman are overly believable in their roles. Of the three leads only Eastwood looks likes he could spend his days in a dingy old gym. The spindly Swank is unconvincing as a power puncher and Freeman comes across like a slumming PhD. This is an instance, however, where suspension of disbelief pays off in the long run. A little loss of feasibility buys you two great performances. Maggie is a woman whose tough exterior hides a tougher interior wrapped around a will of iron. This is both her triumph and her tragedy. Swank captures these qualities in a natural, loose jointed performance that manages to make this rough customer appealing. Morgan Freeman is an actor who can steal a scene with just a look or turn of phrase. Here he's called upon to act as narrator and observer of human tragedy. He does so with dry objectivity leavened with a hint of bemused sorrow. As Frankie Eastwood is excellent as a man whose job and background conspire against his compassionate nature. The rasp of his voice sounds like a soul tearing itself apart.
Million Dollar Baby is not an easy movie to like. It takes two people who are the sum of their experiences and needs and rubs them together under horrendously stressful situations. It is like a case study, showing a little human truth as the film makers see it. If you approach it on those terms you will find Baby a worthwhile investment. You will, however, find yourself admiring the accomplishment more than loving the experience.