癲狂院 Vixen Owl Cigar..。o○

Not all Prisons have Bars


THE BOXER - GREAT WITH DAY-LEWIS
Both Daniel Day-Lewis and Emily Watson give knockout performances in one of the most compelling movies to date, and directing that is absolutely brilliant just adds to the frankness and honesty of the entire film.
The stunning photography is such an asset, and the intriging story holds onto you.
THE BOXER is an elite movie, in a category of its own; mesmirizing.

What I like about this film is the intimacy of it.
Not just with the main characters but in the whole movie, we learn much more about the men in the organization and their families, like Joe Hamill and his daughter Maggie.
Or like in the beginning, how secretively Joe has to arrive at a wedding.
Walking through the walls of a series of flats and how ordinary and unsurprising it is for the families who live in the flats to see a group of men walk through their living room and into another.
Another thing you learn about is the hallowed title of "Prisoner's Wife ".
Its a title that carries a lot of pride to it, its like a protest but of the highest kind: To stand by the men who are sacrificing their lives for what they believe.

The IRA are very protective with these women, or is it dominating.
No man can date or even make a pass at these wives because it would be slap in the face to the cause.
The IRA also makes sure the wives don't cheat on their husbands as well, which leaves some of these women in a prison without bars.
Maggie is one of these prisoners.
Maggie was never really in with her husband and now that she has Danny back she doesn't want to lose him again, but she will if she continues her relationship with him, because fooling around with a prisoners' wife gets you an automatic bullet in the head.

【Daniel Day-Lewis】Boxer【Emily Watson】
Powerful lead performances, Atmosphere, Moving story.
A continuation of Jim Sheridan's depictions of Ireland and its natives, THE BOXER tells the story of Danny Flynn.
A former IRA soldier who changes his ways after spending fourteen years in prison after taking the blame for a crime that was committed by one of his superiors Harry (Gerard McSorley ).
This is Sheridan's second film dealing with the IRA.
The first, being the powerful, "IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER ."
But where the latter is more straightforward in its story, THE BOXER is more of an exercise in symbolism.

However, the movie is strongest when it deals with Danny and Maggie's forbidden relationship.
The scenes between the two lead characters are intense, and their chemistry nothing short of mesmerizing.
In one scene, Danny bemoans the fact that he lost 14 years of his life while in prison, and Maggie intently responds "You don't think I haven't been in prison the last 14 years too? "
Both characters realize and accept, with a sort of melancholy resignation, that under the circumstances in which they find themselves, they cannot risk the consequences of romantic involvement.

Daniel Day-Lewis (My Left Foot/Gangs of New York ) delivers a powerful performance as the boxer, turned pacifist.
Likewise, Emily Watson's (Breaking The Waves/Gosford Park ) performance is brilliant, as her expressive eyes and searching facial expressions, poignantly convey the depths of her moral and emotional conflict.
Gerard Mc Sorley and Brian Cox add strong supporting performances.

The only real weakness in this film is the fact that in shuffling between the politics, boxing, and romance, some of the themes are a bit underdeveloped, especially Maggie's ambivalent relationship with her son, Liam, who sees her relationship with Danny as a sort of betrayal.
The film would also be a little stronger with more emphasis on Danny and Maggie's relationship, and less footage of boxing matches, which add little to the main story line.

In this film, Sheridan and Screenwriter Terry George (Some Mother's Son* ) once again, personalize the conflict in Norther Ireland through the development of multi-dimensional, sympathetic, characters involved in circumstances beyond their control.
The Boxer is a gloomy, but realistic, look at people caught up in a political landschape where and redemption cannot co-exist with hatred and violence ; where the paradoxes are too gr8, and where there are no winners.
The fight scenes are the most realistic I have seen on film (Day Lewis trained for two years in preparation ), the acting is excellent and the soundtrack is moody and emotive.
Highly recommended.