Deserved Oscar Winner..

Rating: 9/10 (19 April 2005)

The winner for the best picture of 2004 at the Academy Awards, Million Dollar Baby featured magnificent acting and directing. This boxing character study, the latest effort from Clint Eastwood, is certainly deserving of whatever honors it received. In addition to the award for best picture, it also won Oscars for best directing (Eastwood), best actress (Hilary Swank) and best supporting actor (Morgan Freeman).
At the heart of the film is Swank, who plays Maggie Fitzgerald, an aging boxer with a hard past. When she meets Frankie, played by Eastwood, she sees a man who could take her to the top of the boxing world. Despite his efforts to get her to leave him alone, Frankie finally agrees to train her. Together, they form a bond that helps Maggie earn fame in the ring and also fills a void in each of their lives.
While Swank is remarkable as Maggie, the real treat in Million Dollar Baby is the interplay between Eastwood's Frankie and Freeman as his long time friend "Scrap." The two have the most believable on-screen friendship in recent memory. With every line and quip, the viewer has no doubt that the two have been best friends for decades.
Unfortunately, Million Dollar Baby and many of its critics have come under fire for the movie's final moments. While I won't ruin the ending by divulging it here, I can say that there is a significant and controversial twist in the last third of the film. Many critics revealed that twist in their criticism of the film's morals and motivation. In response to these critics, I can do no better than to quote renowned movie critic Roger Ebert, who wrote on the subject in a January 29 essay entitled "Critics Have No Right to Play Spoiler." "Million Dollar Baby raises fundamental moral issues," wrote Ebert. "At a moment of crisis, the characters arrive at a decision. I do not agree with their decision. But here is the crucial point: I do believe that these characters would do what they do in this film. It is entirely consistent with whom they are and everything we have come to know about them. That is one reason the film is so good: it follows the characters all the way to the limit, and plays true to them." Ebert mentions that the film follows its characters to the limit, characters which were first formed by F.X. Toole in his book Rope Burns. Eastwood has adapted the F.X. Toole stories perfectly and provided us with an intriguing character study that will make you question your beliefs and the actions of the characters. Great movies make you think, and Million Dollar Baby does just that.