Another Subtle Story by Clint Eastwood

Rating: 10/10 (30 January 2006)

Three people carrying their own injuries and baggage meet and form an unlikely friendship that slowly becomes familial. Frankie is a man who has lived his entire life in the service of boxing but for reasons left unknown, has an estranged relationship with his daughter, so he has little else to do but be at the boxing gym and train. Eddie is one of his better boxers, a quiet man who can still throw a punch, and who lost an eye in an ill-fated match. Though these two men have a close-knit friendship Frankie still bears tremendous guilt over Eddie's loss. And now, a girl of all people -- Maggie -- wants Frankie to train her. She has nothing going for her, she knows it, and boxing is a way out. While at first Frankie sees no future for her -- she's 31 and has no experience -- he gives in and decides to train her to become the best female fighter ever... until tragedy arrives and gives their lives an unexpected left turn that will change them forever.
What could have been a feminist's answer to ROCKY becomes something different, revelatory. Clint Eastwood, a film director that chooses to direct his films in a deliberate pace more akin to late-night jazz, takes F. X Toole's short story and re-shapes it into visual poetry that unfolds into a tight tapestry which by the end of the film will have stirred many emotions with nary a manipulative hand in sight. Clint Eastwood finds a quiet note with his performance as Frankie, the man who could have been a curmudgeon but becomes a surrogate father to Maggie. His final words to her, in Celtic, are whispered in such a fashion, yet convey an immense gravity. Maggie herself is a complicated character: her life is boxing, she has become to symbolize the sport, and in doing so she's achieved so much in a world where all she would have been is white trash. She has a family who thumbs their noses at her career yet want her money. However, she is not an aggressive woman. If anything, she is polite, humble, respectful even when she shouldn't be. Hilary Swank strikes every note in her own rendition of the character: a soft spoken fighter who is faced with a horrific turn of events and must relinquish her love of sports. Morgan Freeman's performance is also of note, mainly because much of it happens off-screen: his measured voice, the one who tells the story, evolves into one who brings much needed closure later on.
I felt that the film spoke to me for most of its run. Maggie's story was especially compelling (even if a little predictable) but what resonated with me were the reactions of Eddie and Frankie who have less 'action' and more 'reflection'. This is a much better film than MYSTIC RIVER in the way that much of the focus is on the three leads' bonding as a quasi-family in a world that doesn't care about people like them. It takes its time, then captures your full attention, and before you know it, you are immersed in these three lives because these are people you could meet in your lifetime. And that makes a great film, especially when about the little people who are looking for that special place to live out their final years.