Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Million Dollar Baby is deceptively simple in story and scope, but the plot and its perspective take unexpected turns. That’s where the real impact lies, in establishing strong characters and leading them to surprising places. Clint Eastwood and Hillary Swank were each awarded their second Oscars—for Best Director and Best Actress, respectively—and they were well deserved.
The story is told (beautifully) through the eyes of Eddie “Scrap-Iron” Dupris, played by Morgan Freeman in an Oscar-winning performance. He serves as primary observer but also as catalyst uniting the two main characters. Maggie Fitzgerald (Swank) is a waitress from Missouri, determined to make it as a professional boxer. She turns up one day at the Hit Pit, a dilapidated gym near downtown Los Angeles. Maggie has her mind set on securing the owner Frankie Dunn (Eastwood) as her personal trainer, but Frankie doesn’t train “girls.” In fact, he tries everything possible to discourage her. Frankie can’t take risks, either. He is set in his ways to a fault, which ultimately costs him a key prospect named Big Willie (Mike Colter). Frankie won’t make a move until he feels ready. The trouble is, he’s never ready. As Big Willie closes in on a chance at the title match, he drops Frankie for a different manager.
It’s a wakeup call, and against his better judgment, Frankie takes Maggie on. Together, they reach unexpected heights in the boxing world. As the story progresses and Maggie rises in the ranks, we get to know the characters and their backstories better. Frankie is estranged from his daughter, but Maggie seems to fill that void. Frankie also begins to take risks with her, upping her to welterweight and eventually arranging for her to have a shot at the title match. Maggie’s family history is far worse. Her brother J.D. (Marcus Chait) is just out of jail, and her trashy sister Mardell (Riki Lindhome) and judgmental mother Earline (Margo Martindale) think little of Maggie’s boxing while they cheat the welfare system. When Maggie buys them a house, Earline yells at her for messing up her government aid.
The story takes a stunning turn with Maggie’s championship bout. Facing off against a known dirty fighter, Maggie falls on a misplaced stool in the ring and breaks her neck, becoming a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic, completely paralyzed from the neck down. Every available option is exhausted to find her the best doctors, but they all come back with the same verdict: Maggie will remain this way for the rest of her life. Her family shows up to take control of her money, but Maggie rids herself of the vultures by threatening to report them to the IRS for welfare fraud if they ever set foot near her again. As time goes on, she develops dangerous bedsores and eventually loses one of her legs. Soon after, she asks Frankie to help her end her life. He refuses … until she bites through her tongue one night in an attempted suicide. Frankie arrives after hours with a syringe and a bottle of adrenalin, then he quietly disconnects her ventilator.
The scenes following her accident are heart-wrenching. Beauty can be found in Maggie’s outlook and determination, and in her strong relationship with Frankie, but it’s a tragic conclusion to this story. The subject of euthanasia surfaced in prior Oscar-winner The English Patient and had been in the news with some regularity when Million Dollar Baby was released, particularly following Dr. Kevorkian’s arrest and trial in 1998. But Maggie’s story puts a human face on the controversy. After he assists in Maggie’s suicide, Frankie leaves the hospital and disappears into the night, forever abandoning the world at large. We hear Scrap once more in voiceover for the final moments, and it’s only at this point that we realize his monologues throughout the film come from a letter he’s been writing to Frankie’s estranged daughter, telling her about her father’s true character.
Million Dollar Baby resonates to this day because of the brilliant performances and unexpected twists and turns in the narrative. It shows us the power of people connecting, against their own logic, against the odds, against preconceived expectations, and even against established laws. Sometimes that can yield as much impact as any big-budget spectacle could ever hope to.
Million Dollar Baby
Director | Clint Eastwood |
Primary Cast | Clint Eastwood, Hillary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel, Mike Colter, Lucia Rijker, Brían O’Byrne, Anthony Mackie, Margo Martindale, Marcus Chait, Riki Lindhome, Michael Peña |
Familiar Faces | Clint Eastwood from Unforgiven, Morgan Freeman from Driving Miss Daisy and Unforgiven |
Firsts | None to speak of |
Total Wins | 4 (Picture, Director, Actress: Hillary Swank, Supporting Actor: Morgan Freeman) |
Total Nominations | 7 (Picture, Director, Actor: Clint Eastwood, Actress: Hillary Swank, Supporting Actor: Morgan Freeman, Screenplay: Adapted, Editing) |
Viewing Format | Blu-ray Disc |
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