MOVIE OF THE WEEK

The Fighter

Sunday, 9pm, Ch4

(2010) 15

Boxing has long fascinated film-makers, partly because of the colourful characters it attracts. Dicky Eklund and Micky Ward (Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg) are two such characters in a film following the Rocky formula, but actually based on a true story.

Dicky (Bale) is ‘The Pride of Lowell’, a once-promising prizefighter who almost beat Sugar Ray Leonard back in 1978 – but didn’t. He now trains his brother, ‘Irish’ Micky Ward (Wahlberg), having thrown away his own career in the 1980s, when drink and drugs (and the criminal activities required to pay for them) took hold. Micky could be a champ, but his brother and his mother (also his manager) are holding him back – not because they want to, but because they can’t help themselves. They want the best for Micky, but they aren’t always capable of providing it. But ditching his baggage isn’t going to be easy for Micky when family loyalty is at stake.

The Fighter is a sweaty, raw boxing flick, but it is always punctuated with an inherent comedy born out of the ridiculousness of real life – not least the boys’ veritable Greek chorus of sisters. As much as anything, though, it’s about families. It may be Micky whose career is on the ropes, but all of the characters here have hard lives – they’re poor but proud people who stick together, and they’re all fighters in their own way.

The story behind the film

Mark Wahlberg puts in a beautifully understated turn as Micky, but it was Christian Bale who took all the glory as Dicky. His OTT performance is easy to mock, but wait till you see footage of the real Dicky (inset) over the closing credits – it’s scarily accurate. Real, too, is the documentary that frames the action (HBO’s High On Crack Street: Lost Lives In Lowell) – the film within a film being made about Eklund, which he thinks is about his ‘glorious’ past and touted return to the ring, but is really about his descent into addiction and subsequent incarceration. He’s since cleaned up, and, though it’s hard to believe, Dicky now has a sideline in motivational speaking... Vicky Thompson