Movie: Million Dollar Baby
Cast: Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman Rating:
Reviewer: Katherine Frumin

Big Willie Little (Mike Colter) sits in the corner with his manager Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) as Frankie patches him up for his next round. Blood streams from a deep gash under his eye while the crowd cheers for him to keep boxing. Willie is losing at first but eventually wins the match, a very Hollywood outcome. Scenes from Rocky are similar to this opening sequence, but Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby is not just another boxing film where the underdog comes out victorious. Eastwood escapes cliché by going beyond the boxer’s victories and losses into the manager’s. He digs to unearth tensions, relationships and internal struggles, and does not come out empty-handed.

Clint Eastwood’s films, like Mystic River and True Crime, have a tension that keeps his audience engrossed in the film, and Million Dollar Baby is no different. The film is not really about fighter Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank), but about Frankie Dunn’s internal struggle; he is in the boxing ring fighting the insecurities and past sins for which he still punishes himself. Frankie has already fought many rounds, and Willie Little is Frankie’s current battle. When he loses Willie, Frankie struggles to get himself off the mat. In boxing, sometimes all you can do is step back into your corner, but the film tells us that when you step back too far, you are not fighting at all, and Frankie chooses to sit in his corner, delaying the upcoming round.

Clint Eastwood creates a film where the audience feels like it is the boxer: the audience takes a hit whenever Frankie does. The audience sits with Frankie in his corner as he hesitantly fights his battles in his internal boxing ring. Throughout his life, Frankie makes mistakes for which he cannot forgive himself, such as neglecting his daughter emotionally. His guilt runs through his profession and when Maggie first asks Frankie to be her trainer, he hesitates because he is afraid of failing in supporting Maggie. This previous neglect causes Frankie to see Maggie as his own daughter and so when Maggie succeeds, so does Frankie. Similarly, Maggie’s losses are the blows Frankie receives in his metaphorical boxing match. This relationship between coach and athlete would normally come across as cliché because a coach would say, “I’m so proud of you, no matter what the outcome.” Eastwood’s characters’ actions reveal that it is not that simple; Frankie invests so much emotion in Maggie that he cannot be the detached coach in the traditional coach-athlete relationship. Eastwood does not need to include this clichéd dialogue because his direction creates an atmosphere where his characters do not need to say anything: the connection can be seen in the actors’ performances.

Hilary Swank’s performance in Boys Don’t Cry reflects her talent at playing the masculine outcast, which is replicated in Million Dollar Baby. In both films, Swank takes on the task of physically transforming herself to portray her character with a willingness that is uncommon amongst actresses. Her ability to act the tough boxer but also show a vulnerable side of her character breaks the character mold. In Rocky, Sylvester Stallone is the tough boxer, but his acting does not suggest a more humane side to his character. Eastwood’s choice of actors has directly contributed to Million Dollar Baby’s believability.

Not only does Eastwood create a believable film but he stars as well. Eastwood plays a character who cares about having respect. Scrap mentions that “[b]oxing is about respect. Getting it for yourself and taking it away from the other guy”: Eastwood creates a character that repeatedly steps back into his corner out of fear of losing respect and plays it well. In previous films, Eastwood consistently plays an “untouchable” character who inspires respect in others by being tough, but in Million Dollar Baby he takes on a new role of a failed family man and trainer.

Scrap Dupris (Morgan Freeman) narrates the film as the old wise man who knows all of the characters and their hardships. Freeman’s character serves as an omniscient being, telling the audience about each of the characters’ lives. With every event, Scrap provides insight into the characters and their actions. Maggie endures laborious hours waitressing; there is no reason the other characters would know them, but Scrap acknowledges her work. Above all else, Scrap has the most knowledge because he has been through more, which we can see in his features and actions.

Tom Stern, Million Dollar Baby’s cinematographer, creates an atmosphere where every scene is half-lit except the boxing ring, revealing the characters’ sense of self-confidence there. In other scenes, only one source of light accents the actors’ wrinkles and scars on their faces, delineating their prior hardships, but it is in the boxing ring that only the now matters and past events are irrelevant. Tom Stern’s work is not new to filmmakers; he also did the cinematography in Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River and also did the lighting for Sam Mendes’s films Road to Perdition and American Beauty. In each of these films, Stern establishes a relationship between metaphorical light and darkness to literal, producing an atmosphere where good and evil are in conflict.

The film steers away from the “good guys always win” archetype, and instead follows the more common “pure good does not always conquer evil” model. Maggie and Frankie’s success cannot last forever. Million Dollar Baby follows the Hollywood pattern: the main character overcomes his or her weaknesses, becomes successful, then tragedy strikes. Eastwood’s rise to the climax is so compelling that this worn pattern is barely noticeable. The crowd does not only see Maggie’s failures but can feel each of Maggie and Frankie’s injuries; Eastwood creates such sympathetic characters that each disappointment is another blow. The importance of family accentuates the film’s ending because there is something more than a loss: with the loss comes a tighter bond between Frankie and Maggie that surpasses that cliché moment of victory or failure. This may be one of the stereotypical Hollywood endings, but Eastwood creates a conflict that exists on so many levels, in so many characters, that the film moves from being cliché to innovative.

“There's magic in boxing,” Scrap says, “the magic of fighting battles beyond endurance, beyond cracked ribs, ruptured kidneys and detached retinas. It's the magical success of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you.” Eastwood repeatedly directs films about characters with noticeable flaws, people who never achieve their goals. This steers Eastwood’s films further away from the Hollywood focus on winners, making his films compelling portraits of those who’ve tried and failed.