Great character study, but...

Rating: 5/10 (21 October 2005)

This movie is possibly Clint Eastwood's finest character study. As a character study, it focuses on three main characters, all of which are brilliantly drawn. I won't add ink on this subject, since it's already been dealt with by numerous others. Even minor characters, with one exception, are generally drawn with deftness. Only one minor character, a Catholic priest, ends up being a punching bag for the director, and thereby hints at the main flaw of the movie as art.
The movie tries to be something it ultimately isn't. It tries to be a morality play. It succeeds in this fairly well up until the last, controversial, scene, albeit at a level that was already well covered in the Rocky films. That is, it portrays the kind of spirit required to succeed in boxing and generally lets the viewer draw inferences about how that applies in life in general. It quotes an aphorism of the author of the original story, F.X. Toole, that has a significance for viewers that goes beyond where the movie reaches. The greatest tragedy of the film is that the director didn't see its widest application. If he had, this movie would not have become a poster child for a particular movement (but I don't want to divulge the ending, so I will continue to speak in oblique terms, get me?).
Here's the rub. The quote is this: "Instead of running from pain, which is the natural thing in life, in boxing you step into it, get me?" The pain portrayed at the end of the movie is precisely the pain that people in this movement run away from. It is precisely the pain that two of the characters in the movie ultimately run away from. The secret of growing in the spiritual life is to step into it.