Just got off the couch

Rating: 8/10 (26 March 2020)

"The Fighter" is directed by David O Russell and stars Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg. This film is based on a true story about two brothers trying to get a shot at the title in boxing.
David O Russell tells this heartfelt story and brotherly love and family relationships, making hard choices to achieve greatness in a really compelling story.
Christian Bale delivers a stellar performance as Dickie Eklund, the older brother of Micky Ward (Wahlberg). Dickie is Micky's trainer and a lightweight boxer as well, now a crack addict and a troubled man. Seen by Bale's performance as Dickie, you can really see and tell that Dickie loves his younger brother. Both of them have a good relationship, despite their differences. The whole family is very close together, and all support Micky is his rise in boxing. Especially his mother, Alice Ward, played brilliantly by Melissa Leo.
The cinematography is very interesting in this film, in clever ways. They dry colours give the film a realistic feel, gritty and raw. While the boxing matches are happening, they are filmed like the fights are being broadcasted on real TV. David O Russell used camera from the 90s to give the matches a realistic feeling, like they were live on TV at the time, which is a clever way of doing it.
The rock induced soundtrack fits well with the film as well.
One problem I have with the film is that some of the characters weren't portrayed as real as they were in real life. According to sources, the real Dickie Eklund didn't like how his sisters were portrayed, and yelled at a Christian Bale, although Bale spent hours with the real Dickie to learn how to portray him accurately, and he did a fine job.
Overall, The Fighter is a great film to enjoy, especially if you have siblings, seeing Dickie and Micky connect like real brothers is something to behold, despite everything they went through.