Some viewers may see SOUTHPAW as just another fight flick but . . .

Rating: 8/10 (7 August 2015)

. . . it's more than a ROCKY remake. Jake Gyllenhaal's pugilist character, Billy Hope, begins the story as a Super-Rich World Champ. As implausible as this may seem give Billy's pale demographic, this is the key to the allegorical structure of SOUTHPAW. Billy is meant by the filmmakers to represent America's Golden One Per Centers, who are overwhelmingly White despite a handful of Oprahs, Tigers, and LeBrons. Billy's daughter, Leila, stands in for the rest of us--the 99% of Ordinary People Americans. Billy Hope losing his first fight, his wife, his career, his support team, his home, and custody of his daughter echoes the U.S. financial crash of 2008. In order to win his daughter back (along with a few incidentals), Yesterday's One Per Center Fat Cat Billy must spend a big chunk of his life cleaning the toilets of us normal people, which is exactly what SOUTHPAW's producers (The Weinstein Company) want Donald Trump to do BEFORE he asks for our votes. Let's see if The Donald can follow in Billy's footsteps, scrubbing out the Thrones dearest to the Hearts of America during 16-hour days for the next 15 months! Billy comes out of this tale with custody of his kid, and a room at the Y (or some such place). That's how the Trump-type folks can best weather the Coming Storm, SOUTHPAW suggests.