One of the best films in the past decade ... and the decade before that ...

Rating: 10/10 (16 August 2005)

Forget your personal taste for a particular type of film. Forget about all the films you thought was great in the past few years. Clint Eastwood, at his age as a master director now, shows what the simplicity of storytelling can be without all the bells-and-whistles of today's films, filled with all sorts of boring twists and uninteresting characters.
Million Dollar Baby is the newest blueprint to simple, cinematic storytelling done at it's best.
Paul Haggis' script should be the newest example of "How to write great stories for the big screen?" It should be issued in film schools across the world, showing these wannabes how it is done. It should be used as a source of inspiration for studio execs looking for that next project that would help them keep their jobs. He told enough on the character's journeys without giving us too much information. He never tried to spoon feed us with the answers to all of our questions by explaining. I'm glad we never knew what exactly was the problem between Frankie (Clint Eastwood) and his daughter. Haggis forces the viewers to take as much as we needed to join in on this extraordinary journey. He had shown us how to use narration without using narration.
Clint Eastwood's directing was superb. He was able to capture crucial and emotional moments that didn't lessen the quality of the writing. He was able to help his cast deliver excellent performances depicting simple characters that seem to be "the unwanted." He also didn't take away from the cinematic experience with fancy camera angles and MTV style editing. He would have a master shot that can hold on a moment as long as possible, and with the help of the great performances, the beautifully choreographed masters work without boring us. He didn't drown out the moments with predictable, cliché music scoring as well, contributing to the beautiful music that expressed the power of this simple story without feeling out of place.
Hillary Swank's best performance ever. I enjoyed her more in this movie than the last film she had done that won her her first Oscar. She was empathetic without being sympathetic. She was real. Her ability to be tough and sometimes ruthless, merciless, was seen in her boxing matches with opponents. Maggie's love never felt false.
Morgan Freeman's well deserved Oscar performance. It's about time. He was subtle and realistic. He didn't try to provoke anything from anyone, especially the audience. Scrap was one of those characters that believed in the best in all of us and was humbled enough by his own life experiences to help us find that potential in ourselves, encouraging us to use it as a survival tool. He only added to this ensemble cast.
And, in my humble opinion, this is Clint Eastwood's best performance ever, which is hard to say looking back on his long career.
I don't want to give away too much of the film. I advise all filmmakers and audiences alike to go and experience the best film of 2004, Million Dollar Baby. This is what film story telling is all about. 10/10 - A+