The good themes found in the movie (at least the ones that are not spoilers) are those of hard work and perseverance. One of the brothers, Brendan, is a former MMA fighter-turned-high school physics teacher who is falling behind on the bills. In the face of losing his home where he lives with his wife and children, he decides to get back into shape so that he can earn some real money fighting. Unlike his ex-Marine brother Tommy, his victories don't come easily for him. He's been out of the fighting for a while and he's up against men who do nothing but fight for a living. His determination to fight for his family's well-being in the face of steep odds is quite inspiring.
Apart from the obvious violence (which, compared to other fighting movies, including Rocky, is not very bloody at all), some themes that might be harmful have to do with the broken family. The father, who used to be a severe alcoholic, heavily abused the mother and his two sons until the mother left and took Tommy with her. It wasn't long before she died. This history of abuse and drunkenness has caused so much strife between the father, Tommy, and Brendan. Even now, when the father has been sober for nearly 1,000 days and begs for his sons' forgiveness, they still hate him and deny him completely. They even resent each other for not being where they should have. The many strongly negative feelings towards family could be harmful to those who are already sensitive to such issues. The movie does not make a strong case in favor of forgiving others. It only shows how hurt and resentful family members can be to those who have wronged them.
4 comments:
I also loved this movie! I thought it was a great movie that invoked emotion and strongly demonstrated the themes you mentioned of hard work and perseverance. I agree with your analysis of how it could also potentially be a harmful movie with violence and bad domestic themes. However, I personally took away the better themes of hard work and perseverance as they seemed to be very strongly conveyed. I recommended this movie to almost all of my friends!
I think my husband would like this movie. He's really into UFC though it's way too intense for me! Too bad about the bad portrayal of families though.
I LOVED this movie! I saw it back in November, and I did not want to see it at all. It looked boring and was not interested in it at all. But the more I kept watching, the more I became sucked into the story. I didn't know watching it that it wasn't based on a true story. At the end I was expecting the typical explanation of the characters after the events in the movie.
Hmmm... sounds intriguing!! Surprisingly, I'm not a HUGE fan of boxing movies (except that one with Christian Bale... where they're boxers... that I can't think of right now...), but it sounds pretty good. :-)
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