"MILLION DOLLAR BABY"-Reviewing an Eastwood classic

Rating: 9/10 (29 December 2013)

A classic in modern day movie -making, an oddity and rarity but a true depiction of real life avalanche of pain, suffering and being made to feel unwanted as Maggie(Hillary Swank) quotes in the initial part of the movie "am just a trash girl". Clint Eastwood reprises his role as the old tough guy which was even more accentuated by his 2008 movie Gran Torino, his ruggedness only a sheath concealing the magnanimous heart that man has. Rejected by his daughter at an early age, how this failed hero in boxing relives his dream through a girl disowned by society and her non-altruistic family especially is a masterpiece to watch. Coming from the lowest echelons of society, with a family to support who don't care a speck about her, her character and passion for this sport powers through, reflecting the urge, the pain, the need for gratification, the need for some self respect which this masochistic world has made her devoid of, let alone bragging rights. Hillary is fantastic in this flick, her portrayal of the quintessential low class girl with a nigga-accent, working in the daytime as a bar waitress and cleaner saving money for training by eating off the scraps left over by customers on their plates and continuing her relentless practice till the night engulfs the center and she is the only one left. Age is not on her side being a thirty-one year old woman, all these years were wasted in order to just survive, and the outward arrogance of the man Eastwood is discourages her "i don't coach girls". As the motion picture rolls on, and as Maggie goes from strength to strength, her proximity to her coach(Eastwood) increases. Everything from her itinerary to ringside coaching, emotional support acting as if he were her dad comes from the rugged old guy. There's one moving scene in the movie where Maggie is going to compete for the WBA World Women's Welterweight championship in Vegas, and her coach allows her for the first time to have a say in their mode of travel to which she replies"We'll go by flight, and come back on a drive" to which the coach smirks "that's about the most stupid thing I have heard anyone say". But as fate would have it this would turn out to be a tragic turn of events, where she was winning the bout but was ambush attacked by her opponent fatally after the time out bell had rung. She goes into an almost coma like state, being actually transported back through an ambulance drive(as she had earlier wished from Vegas) with Eastwood by her side. She is transferred to a clinic being alive on a respirator, not able to move her body where it gets bedsore and one of her legs have to be amputated. One night she expresses her will to die to Frankie(Eastwood), to discard this lifeless, limp form as it was pointless for her to live this way after seeing everything, how the crowds cheered her name, how her fame instilled the pride she never had and also she also reminisces that her father too had taken away his own life. Frankie opposes but hours later there's a phone call to him notifying that she had attempted it by cutting her tongue and was almost bleeding to death. Frankie goes to the church he has been attending for the past 23 years without default and admits to the Father, that this girl listens to nothing of his, the only one of his protégés to do so. Even the fame she has achieved is because of herself only. That night he decides even in death he has no control over her and has to do according to her wish. He removes the respirator and injects adrenaline, enough to kill her many times over. Thereafter Frankie is never to be heard of, as narrated by Morgan Freeman who also does a fantastic job as the half blind failed wrestler and Frankie's companion.