 |
| Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale) and Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) in The Fighter. |
Rocking bulls in Boston
By John Esther
Based on a true story, "Irish" Mickey Ward (Mark Wahlberg) is a boxer living in the shadows of his older half brother, Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale), the first boxer to knock down Sugar Ray Leonard during a professional match. Eklund taught Ward everything he knows about fighting, but the time for a successful future in boxing for Ward runs against the successful past in boxing for Eklunds.
Eklund is now trying to spank the monkey on his back known as crack. In fact he is the subject of an HBO documentary about crack. Eklund gets high, misses training sessions and breaks laws to feed the need. (Does anybody do "skinny" better than Bale?) Ward requires reliability in order to win.
Now in his early 30s, Ward may be taking his last shots in the ring. He might make it, but it could require severing ties from his half brother and his meddling mother, Alice Ward (Melissa Leo), plus her seven co-dependent daughters (Melissa McMeekin, Bianca Hunter, Erica McDermott, Jill Quigg, Dendrie Taylor, Kate O'Brien and Jenna Lamia).
In contrast, Edwards' new girlfriend, Charlene Fleming (Amy Adams) -- an "MTV Girl" who is as independent, smart and attractive as the daughters are not -- and others insists he will have to cut the family ties if he is to have a fighting chance.
The dilemma for Ward is nobody knows his strengths as well as Eklund and company yet they are also his biggest problem. With friends supporting him and family hindering him, The Fighter raises questions about choosing between family and friends, family and one's self, friends and one's self. In the tight white community of Lowell, MA. a man can only go so far if he chooses one over the other -- especially if he fails in the ring. Yet the decision is not so precise as George Ward (an excellent Jack McGee) supports the split from the family.
If you are familiar with boxing history you know how the story ends. If you do not, take a seat and find out for yourself. Either way The Fighter pays off.
Directed by David O. Russell (Flirting with Disaster; Three Kings), The Fighter has a tempo harking back to various boxing films of the late 1970s and early 1980s -- which the film is not afraid to acknowledge via homages vis-a-vis Rocky-esque montages and Raging Bull aesthetics. As the film is set in Lowell, MA. during the early 1990s on paper yet the people are mentally trapped in 1980s (e.g. the soundtrack), this comes off rather smoothly.
There are also some wonderful performances in The Fighter, in particular Leo and Bale, who will probably receive Oscar nominations, with both having a strong chance of winning in the supporting categories.
