Film Review

MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Film Title: Million Dollar Baby.

Country / Year: USA / 2004

Genre: Drama, sport (boxing).

Director: Clint Eastwood.

Writing credits: Paul Haggis, from the stories compiled in "Rope burns" by F.X. Toole.

Cast: Clint Eastwood (Frankie Dunn), Hilary Swank (Maggie Fitzgerald), Morgan Freeman (Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris).

Plot / Synopsis:
“I’m gonna disconnect your air machine, then you're gonna go to sleep. Then I'll give you a shot, and you'll... stay asleep. Mo cuishle means ‘My darling, my blood' ". This is only one of the great deal of thrilling dialogues said by Frankie Dunn to Maggie Fitzgerald. He runs a gym with Eddie Scrap’s help and is a boxing trainer too. He has always refused to train women but when Maggie, a waitress who wants to be a boxer, arrives in his gym he starts changing his mind. After having observed her talented skills in boxing he accepts to be Maggie’s trainer to convert her into a professional boxer. That’s the beginning of very hard-working training days. Although Frankie and Maggie have several problems with their respective families and are not very lucky with their lives, they forget all about that when Maggie goes out in the ring. She travels with Frankie around Europe and the States defying consolidate boxers. Her passion for boxing and determination makes her win most of the fights and she became famous all over the world. People know her as Mo Cuishle, a pseudonym Frankie has created in Gaelic for her. They’re all happy with her achievements when suddenly Maggie’s life goes to pieces at her World Championship fight. After a wrong fall at the ring she becomes tetraplegic and from then on she will have to decide between life or death. Frankie and Mr. Scrap will be always by her side trying to save her from the unavoidable tragic end.

Opinion:
Million Dollar Baby is a magnificent film which has won 4 Oscars awards included the Best Film Oscar. Indeed, this is a very touching film despite being about boxing. The dialogues are brilliant and they’re marked by the feelings of the characters although they can sometimes be heartbreaking. Moreover, all the main actors and actresses must have had some boxing lessons to play their role so well because they have achieved breathtaking scenes when they’re fighting. The fantastic special effects have been necessary to make these scenes so perfect and the make-up is also a fundamental element for that. The film has got a melancholic and sad soundtrack and it appears for instance when there is the voice-over.

Language:
They speak in American English. We can realize it because of the accent and as there are subtitles we can see the typical spelling from the United States. They speak in colloquial English and sometimes some characters use some slang words and expressions.

María Miguel Recatalá