MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

The Fighter Rated R

Directed by David O. Russell.  Starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale.

Photo © 2011 Paramount Pictures
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

 I have been having a tough time convincing folks that The Fighter is worth their time and money.  “I just don’t want to go to a boxing movie,” is the standard reply.  “Well, it’s not primarily about boxing,” is my reply.  “Did you like Rocky?” The 1976 Sylvester Stallone film had more scenes about family and relationships than actual boxing (unlike later sequels) and could be enjoyed by people who knew next to nothing about prize fighting (take it from me – I’m one of them!). 

The Fighter has a bit more swearing and a little more bite, but it’s just as entertaining as Rocky.  Both films show how boxing can be a way out of a working-class life and how family ties can simultaneously encourage and hinder your upward mobility.

Dickie Eklund (Bale) had a chance years ago to make something of himself in the ring.  For a while he was at the top of his game, even boasting a victory in 1978 against the great Sugar Ray Robinson.   But a chronic addiction to crack cocaine keeps him out of shape and often in trouble, living with his family in Lowell, Massachusetts, where he remains a local hero nevertheless.  When brother Micky Ward (Wahlberg), growing up in Dicky’s shadow, decides to create a fighting career for himself, he is encouraged to have Dicky act as his coach and trainer.  While the love is there, the follow-through is not; Dicky is often too wasted to be of any real help.

When Micky starts dating Charlene (Amy Adams) a pretty bartender who knows what Micky is capable of becoming (and is as strong-willed as his mother), his life starts becoming real complicated really fast.

What I really liked about this film is its willingness to acknowledge how much neighborhood and family matter to all of us.  The town of Lowell is depressed and dingy, but its residents still remember when it wasn’t that way and continue to live their lives as if things will one day improve.  And, while Micky’s mother Alice (the wonderful Melissa Leo) and brother can be exasperating, they are family and (to quote Arthur Miller) “attention must be paid”.

The Fighter is also a very funny film, but it is not primarily due to the words on the printed page but to the great interaction between characters and the jittery, hyperactive energy that Christian Bale brings to his depiction of Dicky.

The movie is filmed on location in Lowell, and the Ward-Eklund family not only cooperated, but the real Dicky Ward was on set most days.  The film is a true labor of love (as complicated and as messy as love can be) and an ultimate story of victory.

If we are indeed “treasure in clay jars” (2 Corinthians 4:7), there’s no reason not to enjoy the slightly cracked but always entertaining The Fighter.



Pitchfork/Halo Ratings:
Three halos.
A fascinating, entertaining and often funny fact-based story about neighborhood and family.
Four pitchforks.
For pervasive swearing, pugilistic violence, a little sex and unrepentant drug abuse.

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