The Fighter
I’m the one who’s fighting. Not you, not you, and not you.
The Plot
The Fighter is based on the true story of American boxer Micky ”Irish” Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and takes a look at his unlikely road to the world light welterweight title.
The story also follows his brother Dickie Eklund (Christian Bale) a former boxer. Set in 1996, Eklund has become a crack addict and is in front of the cameras for a HBO film crew making a documentary about him, which he falsely believes the focus of the film is his boxing comeback at age 40. For the past ten years, he has also acted as one of the two trainers for his decade younger half brother.
Alice Ward (Melissa Leo) is their domineering mother, managing both their careers, who believes it better to keep it all in the family. A move by Dickie and Alice at one of Micky’s fights makes Micky come to realise that his boxing career is being hindered by the two, who are only looking out for themselves.
Micky’s new girlfriend, local bartender Charlene Fleming (Amy Adam’s) helps him on his way to going pro, but Micky has to try to figure out where Dickie and Alice fit into his new life, especially as they do not get along with Charlene. These decisions become all the more important as Micky moves up the ranks and is given a shot at the world welterweight championship.
Oh, Jerry, don’t let’s ask for the moon. We have the stars.
My Librarian always told me.
‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’
So, should the same go for film?
I have one problem with this film: Its title.
Patrons of film! You have been deceived! Now fast to your cinemas before you miss a truly great film! The Fighter is no more about fighting than it is about brotherhood and redemption. Some would classify it as a biographical sports drama, they are wrong.
Although the storyline isn’t one we haven’t seen before (a struggling sportsman from a disadvantaged background who somehow scraps his way to success) the director David O Russell breathes new life into a tale as old as sport itself. To boxing fans Ward’s story may be familiar, but to non-sporting people such as myself it’s a story I’m glad was told.
There are a plethora of outstanding performances in this film, mostly delivered by the supporting actors. Christian Bale is almost unrecognizable in the role of Dickie. Losing weight wasn’t Bale’s only transformation; his gaunt appearance plays second only to the actor’s fine physicalisation through his constant movement, twitching and sniffing. His performance is well deserving of the Oscar.
The film is scattered with strong female characters such as Melissa Leo as the hellish cigarette-toting mother Alice and Amy Adam as the strong willed and loud mouthed waitress Charlene. Even Ward’s seven sisters play an important role and are used as a kind of Greek chorus to the film.
These women bring the fighting out of the ring.
Unfortunately for Mark Wahlberg, his accurate portrayal of the soft-spoken Micky Ward is outshone by all these colourful characters, although, he does find his moments. He is sensitive as a father fighting for his daughter and his strong heart and will is captivating.
He’s also easy on the eyes.
The script is beautifully written, balancing fighting and family evenly. There is a particularly deft cleverness to the filming in its hand-held nature and documentary type style. And for a film running just under two hours I was enthralled the entire time.
Bloody good!
I give it four stars.
