The Reason "The Fighter" Is Called "The Fighter"

Boxing films have generally always been about the boxer alone.

Many have said that boxing's greatest value, that which arguably stands it apart from so many other sports, is that reliance on the individual solely. This has always been the case with boxing, and to an extent, this is usually the case with boxing movies. "Cinderella Man", "Raging Bull", etc, are about the boxer, the individual. There are other important characters in these movies that play in the boxer's life, but at the end of the day, it all rests on the boxer. So when "The Fighter" first came out, I was generally disappointed to see the reviews, especially by Ebert (God, when it comes to film critics), that it was a consensus that Mark Wahlberg's Mickey Ward is written as a quiet, perhaps uncomplicated man. And the opening line of Ebert's review is that Wahlberg's character "has less personality than the hero of any other boxing movie I can remember". Yet, after watching the movie, finally, I feel that this focus on the boxer alone is a misconception for the overall story. 

A Boxer's corner is also important.

After Christian Bale and Melissa Leo won their respective and well deserved Oscars for their performances in "The Fighter", I began to get a bit angry as the previews for the film began to focus more on Bale than on Wahlberg. Obviously this is a clever marketing technique, but I think by doing so, the newer previews post-Academy Awards help the movie in exhibiting what it is actually about. The meatiest parts of the movie, involve Mickey Ward's dysfunctional family and whether or not they are a benefactor or a hindrance to his career. At the beginning of the movie, Christian Bale's Dickiey Eklund is the star of the film. Although a crack addict, he's charismatic (something I've always thought Bale lacked in most of his movies) and hogs his brother's spotlight, despite being a not so young boxer on a rather long losing streak. His mother, too, soaks up all the camera time she can and obviously gives Dickie more attention than Mickey, despite Dickie's drug problems and the fact that he once fought Sugar Ray Leonard and wasn't knocked out. But this focus on family and who is in Mickey's corner throughout the movie (Dickie Eklund was in Mickey's corner up until his retirement) is what the movie is actually about, not just the boxer. For a boxer's corner, and the people in his life, play a lot into how mentally ready he is for the sweet science. A good case of this was I once had a friend of mine tell of how, while watching a fight between two rookies, one particular fighter would probably end up being pretty good because of the manager he had in his corner. While boxing is a one on one sport, lets not forget the role the corner plays in the boxer's career. 

And while this is not a great film, I think this is a good one with a different take on the boxing movie formula. It does play a bit into the typical sports story of redemption, but everyone loves a good story of redemption, and this one is a fairly powerful one. Despite all of its dysfunctions, when a family comes together, everyone benefits. Throughout the first half of the movie, I thought titling the film "The Fighter" was a bad call. But now, I understand the reason it doesn't have Mickey Ward's name in the title. It's not all about him. And everyone in this movie has to fight to get things done.