If it wasn't official already, Clint Eastwood's from spaghetti westerns and Dirty Harry is now official. Now he plays a different kind of tough guy, and his direction is absolutley flawless. He's been directing for many years now, and this just may be the best work of his career. It's rather out of his element, and yet he manages to create a beautiful and 'inspiring' movie, though I imagine that depends on how you look at it.
Clint Eastwood plays Frankie Dunn, a boxing coach and manager who owns a gym. He's a grizzled old vet, but when he loses his star boxer to a slick manager, he decides to settle down and concentrate on the gym. Hillary Swank plays Maggie Fitzgerald, a 30-something from Missouri with nothing in her life but boxing. She says that if she didn't have boxing, she'd end up like the rest of her family, stuck in a trailer living on welfare. At first, Frankie is skeptical of coaching a girl, but with the persuasion of his right hand man who help out at the gym, Eddie Dupris (played by Morgan Freeman), and just a little impressed by her determination, he takes her under his wing.
On the surface, this appears to be a boxing movie. But this is far, far from the case. In Freeman's gravelly voice, Dupris narrates the movies, giving an in-depth look at each of the characters, including himself. Each character is equally interesting, and it is seriously a joy to watch the characters act. Eastwood and Freeman have worked together before, and there comraderie is unparalleled. Swank is extremely impressive for an actress that is relatively new to the scene. Her character is very energetic, and her enthusiasm can be seen, heard and felt in every single scene of the movie. Every line, every body movement, every punch she throws makes her character more and more alive. If Eastwood's character wasn't so great, she would be the best. But, as always, Eastwood brings a quiet kind of faith to the movie. There's plenty about his past that we aren't fully exposed to. This is the faith, it's up to you to figure out why he does what he does.
But Eastwood's direction is not seen only in its characters. It can be seen in every environment the movie has to offer. The gym may seem cliched, a run-down little place on a slow street, with a little diner around the corner. But it simply looks right, and dare I say, perfect. The lighting is phenomenal, especially the scene in which Eddie first encourages Maggie to keep on trying. The gym is fully blackened, except for where she is working a bag, and he steps from the shadows, as if revealing himself from a world that was until now dark to her. The same thing happens when Eastwood finally takes her on.
Like I said, this is not really a boxing movie. It's a movie about, possibly the difference between right and wrong, but it's also about someone's perspective from right and wrong, from several angles, including one that cannot be seen at all, it's up to you to make out what they would think. It doesn't end in a climactic fight, a victory celebration or anything cliched such as that. In fact, this movie may just contain one of the most non-cliched, controversial endings in the history of cinema. But that aside, this movie is downright brilliant, on every single level. It fully deserves to win Best Picture.