Film Review: The Boxer
The Boxer.
Directed by Jim Sheridan. Written by Sheridan & Terry George.
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Emily Watson, Brian Cox, Ken Stott, Gerard McSorley, and Eleanor Methven.
1997.
The Boxer is at its heart a love story. One set amidst a backdrop of Belfast immersed in the tensions of IRA conflicts, both external (with the British) and internal (among the IRA, themselves). But a love story, nonetheless.
It is more thematically strong then that suggests though as it is also a pastiche of Shakespearean tragedies. Day-Lewis and Watson are star-crossed lovers. Day-Lewis the titular boxer, ex-con and patsy for an IRA bombing and Watson his childhood sweetheart and current "prison wife" of a friend and fellow IRA patsy. The concept of "prison wives" present a strong undercurrent of the social politics of The Boxer. IRA women are expected to stand by their imprisoned husbands, at all costs. There are consequences of life and death which go with it. Where the love story sets the tone of the piece, the thrust of the plot is provided by the Macbeth and Lady Macbeth characters of McSorley and Methven who endanger the peace and ceasefire Cox as Watson's father and IRA grand poobah is trying to establish. Methven especially underplays it to perfection with her sly whispers of condescending remarks made under her breath.
As one comes to expect from the rare Daniel Day-Lewis film, he does have that one really explosive, showy scene where he really raises his voice, but I find his best scene is instead the quiet one between him and Watson stealing a moment of tenderness and honesty in her doorway in the dead of night. This is where the script really shines, giving the actors dialogue to sell the love story so their acting doesn't always have to do all the heavy-lifting (although, there acting, as in the previous beach scene, had already sold that love, but without the open honesty brought forth in this scene).
Sheridan, brings a workman-like presentation to the material, that fits the world, if not setting any auteurist theories on fire. Especially interesting is as how he presents the British laissez-faire attitude towards violence as represented when Lewis travels to London to box, and the referee won't call the fight despite the decimated, yet still-standing Nigerian fighter's bloodied countenance.
There are many fact-based IRA-set films out there; this is not one of them. But it is a great snapshot of that world. Nonetheless.
Directed by Jim Sheridan. Written by Sheridan & Terry George.
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Emily Watson, Brian Cox, Ken Stott, Gerard McSorley, and Eleanor Methven.
1997.
The Boxer is at its heart a love story. One set amidst a backdrop of Belfast immersed in the tensions of IRA conflicts, both external (with the British) and internal (among the IRA, themselves). But a love story, nonetheless.
It is more thematically strong then that suggests though as it is also a pastiche of Shakespearean tragedies. Day-Lewis and Watson are star-crossed lovers. Day-Lewis the titular boxer, ex-con and patsy for an IRA bombing and Watson his childhood sweetheart and current "prison wife" of a friend and fellow IRA patsy. The concept of "prison wives" present a strong undercurrent of the social politics of The Boxer. IRA women are expected to stand by their imprisoned husbands, at all costs. There are consequences of life and death which go with it. Where the love story sets the tone of the piece, the thrust of the plot is provided by the Macbeth and Lady Macbeth characters of McSorley and Methven who endanger the peace and ceasefire Cox as Watson's father and IRA grand poobah is trying to establish. Methven especially underplays it to perfection with her sly whispers of condescending remarks made under her breath.
As one comes to expect from the rare Daniel Day-Lewis film, he does have that one really explosive, showy scene where he really raises his voice, but I find his best scene is instead the quiet one between him and Watson stealing a moment of tenderness and honesty in her doorway in the dead of night. This is where the script really shines, giving the actors dialogue to sell the love story so their acting doesn't always have to do all the heavy-lifting (although, there acting, as in the previous beach scene, had already sold that love, but without the open honesty brought forth in this scene).
Sheridan, brings a workman-like presentation to the material, that fits the world, if not setting any auteurist theories on fire. Especially interesting is as how he presents the British laissez-faire attitude towards violence as represented when Lewis travels to London to box, and the referee won't call the fight despite the decimated, yet still-standing Nigerian fighter's bloodied countenance.
There are many fact-based IRA-set films out there; this is not one of them. But it is a great snapshot of that world. Nonetheless.
Labels: auteur theory, belfast, brian cox, daniel day-lewis, emily watson, film review, irish republican army, jim sheridan, macbeth, prison wives, romeo and juliet, tragedy, william shakespeare
posted by justin | 9:00 p.m.
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