Protect Yourself

Rating: 10/10 (16 March 2005)

I regret booing Hilary Swank during her acceptance speech for Best Actress during this past year's Academy Awards. Now that I have seen Million Dollar Baby with my own two eyes, I cannot begrudge her the time she spent in front of that podium.
She deftly sold her character with expertise. Kind-hearted to a fault, seeing a world full of dreams to be reached even when her past and present strongly dictate otherwise, persistent, magical, shyly winsome and captivating. All the more to make it such a powerful film in the end. Eastwood and Freeman were paired in another one of my all time favorites, Unforgiven. I'm glad to see that Clint decided to give himself a role in his latest film. (As much as I enjoyed Mystic River... it didn't have Mr. Eastwood in front of the screen.) The constant ribbing and subtle, comedic bickering b/w the two regal actors gave the film a lush sense of weatheredness. In half an hour I readily believed that these two spent the good portion of a quarter of a century together in that gym... constantly playing and replaying the same scenes with the same spit and vigor they showed throughout the film... but always with a tenderness that was steadfastly under the surface of their grizzled and tough exteriors.
And to watch Maggie enter this boxing theatrical two man show was in itself a pleasure. First winning Eddie over and then finally Frankie himself. The hospital scenes are vivid reminders of the past few years. And the uneasy helplessness I felt in my own life percolated to the surface oh so easily. I could feel the vinyl easy chair under my weight... the sound of the machines that pumped and sputtered and beeped while dull red and green lights splayed coldly in the dark... and all one could do is be strong and smile and be there.
"always protect yourself." "always protect yourself." That was the mantra that Frankie drilled into Maggie's head. In the end she displayed her mastery of this maxim even though some may say a bit late. Late? Maybe so... but when her family came to visit, she deftly parried the blows and delivered her own knockout punch. But even Clint Eastwood's character knew that to forever protect oneself was to back away too far. He had learned that lesson but was afraid to let Maggie learn it for herself. That sometimes to protect yourself, you have to get hit.
In the end, this was a story of humanity. Longing, suffering, perseverance, love, kindness, forgiveness, reaching beyond oneself... distilling all the components that make up a person to the few most important things. I am writing this to soak this all in... in the hope that by saturating the memories and feelings this film opened for me... I will forget them less easily. Yes, I can always buy the DVD and see it again... but like the quote from the Yann Martel book, "Life of Pi" at the top of this site says, "First wonder goes deepest, wonder after that fits in the impression made by the first." Once the power of this film softly fades, all I can do is hope that Mr. Eastwood will deliver again.