Prototype Of Subtlety

Rating: Null/10 (3 October 2009)

Beautifully written, superbly directed and excellently acted in, Eastwood's 'Million Dollar Baby' both captivates and involves the viewer in a staggering film experience. This is not the typical underdog's rags to riches story. The story here is driven by the characters Frankie and Maggie and narrated by Frankie's friend Scrap.
All three characters are ordinary people living, or rather, surviving in the real world. Of the older characters, Dunn is living a life of regret as he visits church almost every day writing letters to his daughter only to have them returned without being sent while Scrap, a retired boxer, is supervising a gym yet wishes if only he had completed 110 matches. Suddenly a young and stubborn but very passionate young woman, whose dream is to become a boxer, enters their lives and changes it forever. 'Million Dollar Baby' is about passion. What we get from this amazing movie is that all three characters lived for their passion and even though it did came with a price, it is better to have lived your life with passion, to make your dream come true even if it is only for a short while than to go through life wondering why and regretting having never done anything about it.
The film has been made, directed, written, filmed and performed in with heart. Eastwood has pretty much given his best and extracted the best from his cast and crew. He has done an incredible job with Haggis's solid screenplay. He just reminds us why he's one of the best in the business and what a remarkable career he's had. As Frankie Dunn he is simply awesome. Morgan Freeman is exceptional as Scrap-Iron Dupris. As for the admirable Hilary Swank, what can I say? This is easily one of the finest performances by an actress in a lead role and perhaps Swank's best to date. She has given Maggie Fitzgerald and Mo Cuishle her all and not only does the performance appear natural on screen but the her Maggie really creates a place in the viewer's heart as they cheer and empathize for her.
What also struck me about 'Million Dollar Baby' is the subtlety. Pretty much everything is underused and downplayed, whether it's ligthing, camera-work, art direction, humour, drama, presentation of themes and even music. The gentle soundtrack (also by Eastwood) contributes beautifully to the film. This is perhaps a prototype of subtle film-making. Lastly, 'Million Dollar Baby' is an all-round winner. It deserves to be watched and even after repeated viewing, its effect hasn't deteriorated.