The Fighter

There may not be a film on current or recent release that can match The Fighter for its honesty and its integrity. That may be a slight exaggeration but it has plenty of those qualities in abundance. The film tells the story of the boxer ‘Irish’ Mickey Ward and how he negotiated a number of obstacles on his way to reaching the heights in his sport. The obstacles included his mother who in managing him was well meaning but not as successful as she could have been and his trainer brother who had been a boxer before, knocking down Sugar Ray Leonard, who then developed an addiction to crack. These two are played by the Oscar winners Melissa Leo and Christian Bale. This is well worth seeing, well acted, well written and well made. May 2011