By Karen - 17 August 2021
What kind of sport is boxing? In Clint Eastwood's eyes, it is a self-cultivation that is as miserable and painful as life, and it is difficult to say whether this practice is meaningful. Maggie, born in a muddy family, is still working as a waitress in her 30s. She can only take the leftover steaks from the guests home for dinner. What does life mean to her? The only gift God gave her was that she fell in love with boxing and was slightly talented, and she also met someone who was willing to teach her. But what did she get? Some trivial victories, a moment of cheer from strangers, and finally paralyzed lying on the bed, biting his tongue and committing suicide. Is it worth it? There wasn't even an orgasmic victory, even just met a dirty bitch, was attacked by her in anger, and it was ruined. Light and flirty.
I asked my friend, why would anyone love boxing? Needless to say, the pain is sometimes more serious: Freeman lost an eye, and those spleen ruptured, disfigured, beaten to death... What is the fun? A friend said: "Just like all sports, it is fun. When they hit others, it is infinite fun." The movie said that this is a sport about dignity: if you want to maintain your dignity, you must deprive the other person. Dignity. If you think about it carefully, maybe boxing is an attempt to surface the problems of life: to withstand the injury, hit the opponent, and gain meaning in every hit.
Let's compare Maggie's life with her mother. Her mother might not be harmed at all: when her daughter bought her a house, she just wondered if she would cancel her welfare. When the daughter was paralyzed in bed with a hose plugged in, she took the other two children to play for a few days in Disneyland before visiting her, but the purpose was to get her to sign legal documents and transfer the house to her own name. Down. She lived well, lazy and indifferent, weighing 300 pounds. I can't see any tragedy in her life, even if you think her life itself is a tragedy, but who is not? No one can judge her unless you say that she doesn't love her daughter, which is not a sin. If you have to choose one of the two, what kind of life do you choose? Maggie's? Her mother's? Don't kill Maggie in one bite, you might be living her mother's life in essence: avoid all pain and damage and live.
If Eastwood's character is divine, it is that he is full of guilt for everything: To Freeman, he suffered for 23 years for a fault that was not his own; To his daughter, he insisted on writing to his daughter and repenting every day. Go to church; for Maggie, when the pastor warned him not to help Maggie commit suicide, because "you will be completely lost and you will never be able to look back", he still sneaked into the hospital late at night and unplugged her tube. This of course brings more guilt. He said to Freeman: I blame you. But he knew that he couldn't blame anyone, and his eyes looked at Maggie's mother without much anger, more helpless and compassionate. They fought fate together and then lost to it. There is nothing to complain about. Those who always feel that they can survive the battle are just a moment of optimism.
The Daniel in the practice hall who didn't know how the ice cubes were put into the bottle was just like us: he didn't know that he couldn't punch at all until he was beaten and bruised. Then a long time later, he appeared in the practice hall again and said: I understand, everyone will lose.
How to win life is not a proposition. How to lose is an appropriate proposition. How to live in a life that is doomed to lose? There is no winner in the boxing ring: no matter what victory is accompanied by pain. And this may be the reason why some people love boxing: to feel the meaning of life more truly. Many people don't know that life is a battle that must be lost: you will hurt, you will grow old, you will die, and you will lose everything. But you can still be a hero. This is the most inspirational aspect of this movie: it doesn't talk about victory, it talks about how to fail.
