Competition
The Boxer
Jim Sheridan originally conceived The Boxer as a sporting biopic, celebrating
the life of Irish World Featherweight Boxing Champ and folk hero, Barry
McGuigan. That was 10 years ago. The film which has finally been made has
a very different focus. It is the fictional story of Danny Kelly (Daniel
Day-Lewis), ex-IRA member and youth club boxing hero who has just been
released on to the streets of Belfast after 14 years in prison.
Staying at a doss house, he bumps into Ike Weir (Ken Stott), a drunk
who used to coach the local boxing team. Danny and Ike decide to re-open
the gym.
The opening image of Danny shadow boxing in the prison courtyard inevitably
rekindles memories of Robert De Niro as Jake La Motta. Day-Lewis was every
bit as meticulous in his preparation for the fight sequences as De Niro.
"It's Daniel's nature that he doesn't do anything easily, so he trained
incredibly hard. He actually lived the life of the fighter," observes McGuigan,
who coached him in the ring.
Nevertheless, it soon becomes apparent that neither Sheridan nor his
scriptwriter Terry George are interested in making a Celtic counterpart
to Raging Bull.
The Boxer, brilliantly shot by Chris Menges, works on any number of
different levels. It's a love story, a boxing movie, and it offers a gritty,
documentary-style portrait of a city under siege. British soldiers are
still prowling the streets. The IRA leadership calls a ceasefire, but not
all the rank and file abide by it.
Danny wants to forget the past, but in such a closely-knit community,
where ordinary values have been distorted by the years of violence, this
proves impossible. Even by seeing his childhood sweetheart Maggie (Emily
Watson), he risks the wrath of his former comrades. "There's something
almost mundane about Maggie and Danny's relationship," Sheridan observes,
"but it becomes absolutely extraordinary in this kind of cage they're living
in in the middle of this crazy boxing tale and violent war story, the film
is actually very gentle at heart." Geoffrey Macnab
Synopsis
The third collaboration between director Jim Sheridan and actor Daniel
Day-Lewis (after My Left Foot and In the Name of the Father) is a moving
portrait of today's Belfast, torn between armed political struggle and
a longing for peace. Against the backdrop of the violent clashes between
Catholics and Protestants that have blighted the city in recent decades,
the former IRA activist Danny (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his teenage love Maggie
(Emily Watson), now married to an IRA hardliner, meet again. Danny is released
from prison after having served a 14-year sentence and returns to Belfast
where, with the help of his former trainer Ike (Ken Stott), he tries to
rebuild the local gym and rekindle his career as a professional boxer that
stalled when he went to prison. The quiet love between Danny and Maggie,
whose father (Brian Cox) is boss of the local unit of the IRA, is put to
a real test - one dictated by political circumstance. With great attention
to detail, Sheridan portrays the increase of splinter groups within the
IRA without losing sight of the emotional depth of his drama.
(Dir): Jim Sheridan (Scr): Jim Sheridan, Terry George (Cast):
Daniel Day-Lewis, Emily Watson, Brian Cox, Ken Stott (Running time): 113
Minutes
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