Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby is a masterpiece, pure and simple, deep and true. It tells the story of an elderly boxing trainer who trains a country girl to become a boxer. The story is told by a former boxer, the old trainer's best friend. But it's not a boxing movie, it's a movie about a boxer. Also, I can't hint at how deep and emotionally powerful it is in this review, because I don't want to spoil the opportunity to follow this story and experience the mysteries of life and death. Without a doubt, this is the best film of the year.
Eastwood plays Frankie, a trainer who runs a rundown gym in Los Angeles and enjoys reading poetry in private. Hilary Swank stars as Maggie, a woman from southwest Missouri who has been a waitress since she was 13 and sees boxing as a way out of her life as a waiter.
Otherwise, she says, "I might as well go home and buy a used trailer and get a fryer and some Oreos." Morgan Freeman plays Scape, a former boxing champion under Frankie. . Now he lives in a room in the gym, and from conversations he's been there for decades as Frankie's partner. When Frankie refused to train a "little girl", it was Scape who persuaded him to give Maggie a chance: "She grew up knowing only one thing: she was social scum."
The trio are presented with a rare clarity and authenticity. Eastwood has a lean and capable body, even in his films: even when he reaches the deepest emotional gap at the end of the film, he does not try to frivolously simplify it, but looks at these people , as if they were accomplishing their mission.
As they get older, some directors lose control of the story, while others become more at ease, learning how to tell a story, what is necessary and what is superfluous. Million Dollar Baby is Eastwood's 25th film as a director and his personal best. Yes, Mystic River is a great movie, but in this one, he unearths the simplicity and straightforwardness of classical narrative; it's the kind of movie that makes you sit quietly in a movie theater , immersed in those fates that affect the audience's nerves.
Morgan Freeman as the narrator, as he did in The Shawshank Redemption, whose character describes a life-long learner, is remarkably similar. The voice was flat and real: you would never hear himself in his words. He was just telling us what happened. He talks about how the girl walked into the gym, how she was reluctant to leave, how Frankie finally agreed to train her and what happened next. But Scape is more than a bystander; the film shows his life together. It's all about these three people.
Hilary Swank's performance is as surprising as Maggie's. Every characterization is so real. She makes Maggie a tough character. Thinking back to the scene where she sits with Skye for lunch, Skye recounts how he lost that eye and how Frankie blamed himself for not throwing the towel in time. This scene has a lot to do with Freeman's character, but I'd rather you watch how Swank handles it - Maggie doesn't do anything, just listens. No "feedback", no nods, no body language, except the perfect stillness, undivided attention, and a firm stare.
There is also a scene where Frankie and Maggie sit in a moving car the night after they meet Maggie's family. The visit did not go well. Maggie's mother (Margo Martindale) appears ignorant and selfish. "I only have you, Frankie," Maggie said. It's true, but don't take it for granted that there is love between the two of them. It's something else, and far more profound. She tells Frankie a story about the loves of her past life—her father, and an old dog.
Take a closer look at the way photographer Tom Stern lighted this scene. Instead of creating the mystical atmosphere of the front seats with the usual "dash light", Tom Stern chose to let the light slide across their faces, causing occasional shadows, and sometimes they were not even visible at all, only to be judged by the sound. The rhythm of the light matches the tone and progress of the words, as if the light were stroking the conversation.
Overall it is a dark picture: many shadows, many night scenes, the characters seem to be gradually disappearing into their own destiny. If you look at Maggie's career and several boxing scenes, it's a "boxing movie". She's in the winner's seat to begin with, but that's not the point; Million Dollar Baby is a movie about decisions. A woman decides to do something for herself, a man is reluctant at first and ends up helping her wholeheartedly.
The dialogue of the film is full of austere poetry. "How much does she weigh?" Maggie asked Frankie's daughter, whom he hadn't seen in years. "Trouble keeps coming in my family." And when Frankie sees Skye putting his feet on the table: "Where's your shoes?" Skye replies: "I'm drying my feet. ." The conversation about the feet continued for a while, showing the film's patience in shaping the characters.
Eastwood goes to great lengths to flesh out his characters, making everything seem more real. The most unexpected thing is that the Catholic priest appears as a pure good person; rather than smearing the clergy as in some recent films. Frankie goes to Mass every day and prays at night, and Father Horvak (Brian F. O'Byrne) has watched these Mass attendees every day for 23 years, seemingly taking all the blame. At some important moment, Frankie asked him for help, and the priest did not follow the stereotypes, but told him from a more wise perspective: "If you do this, you will be lost, forever. Lost." Note, similarly, Haggis had Maggie use the word "frozen" (frozen, frozen, congealed), which is so fitting for an uneducated country girl that a word is worth a thousand words.
At a time when movies are full of special effects and sensory stimulation, is it not enough that such a film about what three people are, rooted in the ultimate questions of "who am I" and "why", and nothing else?
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