Million Dollar Baby was just another boxing film. It was a Clint Eastwood movie. It wasn’t something I thought I wanted to see. Why did the Oscars pay it so much attention? I had had my fill of the publicity surrounding this film. I didn’t want to see it. I didn’t want anything to do with it. Not me. Not at all.

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Then, I decided to rent it. I don’t know what possessed me. Something about the film seemed to call to me. Perhaps, I was just bored and there was nothing else in the video store that I remotely wanted to see. All of these could be plausible reasons, i.e. excuses.

I sat down and watched it. I enjoyed it. It made me smile and cry. The film is a stunning piece of cinema. It’s raw human drama. Stripped completely bare to emotion. Hilary Swank stars as a 30-something boxer named Maggie Fitzgerald. Maggie springs from a trailer-trash clan. She’s a hard-working waitress who wants to be a boxer. Clint Eastwood is Frankie Dunn. He’s a boxing coach who tries to protect his charges from harm.

Maggie starts working out at Frankie’s gym after she approaches him after one of her bouts. She wants him to train her. He says he doesn’t trail girls. Due to her tenacity and work ethic, she gets him to take her on. He’s reluctant but Eddie “Scrap Iron” Dupris, who co-manages the gym with him, presses the girl’s case.

Maggie quickly rises through the ranks under Frank’s tutelage. He even has to move her up a weight class because she’s decimated the competition. In England, Frank gives Maggie a new robe that has the Gaelic words, “Mo chuisle” (my darling) written on it. That becomes her nickname.

As the relationship between Maggie and Frank grows, so does her fame and her pocketbook. Maggie saves her money to buy her mama a house. Her mother is upset at Maggie for doing it because it could impact her welfare benefits. Ugh! She also wants Maggie to put a fridge in it.

Despite that blemish, Maggie continues to fight. She wants to achieve her dreams. They seem to come to their fruition. She gets a shot at the title against Billie ‘The Blue Bear’ (Lucia Rijker), the female champion of the world. During the fight, Maggie is injured. She falls over a stool after ‘Blue Bear’ throws her an illegal punch – the bell to end the round had been sounded. She breaks her neck and hovers near life and death for some time.

Frankie can’t contain his guilt. Maggie’s family shows up. They want her to sign the last little bit of her money over to them. Maggie kicks them out. Soon after, she asks Frankie to let her die. Yes. She wants Frankie to end her life by turning off her machines. Frankie wrestles with this dilemma. He goes to see his long-suffering priest, Father Horvak (Brian O’Byrne). Despite the priest’s advice against euthanasia, Frankie does let Maggie go in peace.

Afterwards, he disappears. We are left with Eddie to tell us that life goes on. He writes a letter to Frankie’s daughter, the same daughter who had been returning her father’s letters throughout the film for some sin we never get to know or understand. The audience is left saddened by the story. Yes, Maggie had her dream for a time; but, Maggie didn’t get to have other dreams. What about a life with Frank? What about redemption for them both? What about…

We’re left behind. A little sadder. A little wiser, perhaps. The story is so touching. Very well acted. Very well done. Million Dollar Baby has deserved all of the acclaim it has received – and then some. If you haven’t seen it. If you judged it before you viewed it like I did, I’d ask you to think twice. Look it over. It’s a wonderful film.

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