a fine new addition to an American tradition in film-making

Rating: 9/10 (10 October 2005)

Since the days of silent film and pioneer filmmakers such as DW Griffith, and the days of the Western and its main contenders like John Ford, and through the time of the gangster films of Raoul Walsh and the like, and until today, there has been a tradition in American film, a tradition of film-making and storytelling that chronicles the great struggle for self-fulfillment and achievement. In "Million Dollar Baby", we have a grand return to this form by Clint Eastwood, one of the quintessentially American filmmakers still working today. "Million Dollar Baby" is by no means a virtuoso film, or innovative in its use of the camera or cutting. Here is a film that sticks to tried and true methods such as continuity cutting, smooth tracking shots, and atmospherically centered and balanced mise-en-scene. The film establishes a true sense of place in the boxing ring, the gym, and the hospital. The camera takes us through the world revealing to us the truth of things rather than telling us the truth of things. The characters play out their interactions thus without stylistic interference. Indeed, Eastwood has mastered the Hollywood style. He has stripped it of all its commercial coverings, and shown us what American film-making is really all about: honesty. A character study of enormous depth that plays out in a tried and true narrative, "Million Dollar Baby" is not a hard nut to crack. It is a film about finding peace with oneself, about the generosity and determination of the human spirit. It is a film about the battles each of us fights but that no one likes to talk about. A great movie, it is about hope and redemption in the end. I was profoundly moved.