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Contents © 2005
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
TALK ABOUT MOVIES
July/August 2005
CINDERELLA MAN
Directed by Ron Howard. Starring Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti. 2005, USA, English, Color, 144 minutes. Now in theaters.
Ernie: Baer says to Braddock, "You seem like a nice guy; I don't want to hurt you." Baer is charming, and it seems like a nice gesture, but he's saying, "I'm going to have to hurt you, if that's what it comes to, and it's going to be your fault, not mine.".
Matthew: He's a brutal man, and he represents a kind of brutal force that the average working man is up against.
Ernie: He's sort of opposed to the average working man. He's not a family man; he's oversexed....
Matthew: ...and he's living the high life when most people are struggling to stay alive. He's surrounded by money. Braddock gets to get into the ring with that force; he gets a chance to beat it. Gould's wife says to Braddock's wife, "men go out there, and every day, they feel like they're failing us. It's not their fault; it's the world's fault." A guy can have a kind of helpless rage - suddenly, he loses his job and he can't feed his family, and there's nothing he can do about it. Wilson talks about organizing and fighting back....
Ernie: ...and Braddock says, "Against what? Greed? Bad luck? Things you can't see?" In boxing, he says, "At least I can see what's hitting me."
Matthew: When the commissioner tries to scare him out of fighting, Braddock responds, "Plenty of men die every day on the docks." Brutal forces are at work in the world. The difference is, Braddock has a chance to do what every man wants to do - take on that force, and win.
* * *
Matthew: As a man, Braddock wants to take care of his family, be the provider. He doesn't want the family broken up, the children sent to relatives. He promises his son that won't happen. But when she farms the children out because they have no heat, he can't answer her.
Ernie: He doesn't demand the kids back and say, "We're going to starve together."
Matthew: He goes and begs.
Ernie: She's done what she had to do, so now he's got to do something more than make promises. They're a team. When she throws a drink in Baer's face and Baer says, "Now he's got his wife doing his fighting for him," Braddock isn't insulted. He says, "Yeah, ain't she something?"