Watson and Day-Lewis are forbidden lovers in a violent world Plenty enough of this works to make The Boxer worth seeing. There's a commendable effort to emphasize the humanity of all the players. To that end, even when a villain is killed, the filmmakers show the genuine bereavement of his wife, a new victim in a long line of victims. Throughout, with admirable deftness, Sheridan illustrates how difficult it will be to solve the problems. Danny isn't looking to be a leader, but he and Ike agree that the boxing center must be open to Protestant as well as Catholic boys.
Many people disapprove, of course.
And when the Protestant-dominated police force steps forward to provide the community center with badly needed equipment, people are resentful rather than grateful. Of course, it's plain that the police commissioner's motives are just political rather than altruistic. In the process, in a development reminiscent of the burning of Sal's pizza parlor in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing , they manage to burn the entire gym. Such tragic self-destruction is born of attitudes among the IRA leadership. Clearly, it is not easy to chart a new path, to devise a method to bring the bloodshed to an end.