Movie Review : Million Dollar Baby

Marissa and I watched Oscar winning Million Dollar Baby last night and unfortunately I already knew how it was going to end. I read some of the arguments where people were upset that Eastwood didn't try to portray a more positive message and "...the inspiration the movie could have delivered..."

Now I don't want to get into a discussion on the merits of euthanasia or any of the philosophical trouble areas this movie touches upon. What I do want to rant about for a bit is the fact that everyone seems to think that movies should present themselves as a type of propaganda and if the view that the filmmaker is "obviously" trying to shove down our throats disagrees with their vision of a perfect reality it's necessary to attack and denigrate the film as much as possible.

Repeat after me here folks. "It's a movie. It's entertainment. It's drama."

It's not a teaching tool. You shouldn't use it to oppose or defend anything in the real world. Leave the esoteric interpretations to the film students and the apologetics of the world. The reason I enjoyed the movie is because the characters seemed real and they reacted to situations in the way real people might. Notice I added the word "might" on the end of that last sentence.

If you put 100 people into the same situation as Eastwood's character in this movie, most would probably not do what he did. I don't even know for sure how I would react. Even if only one person out that hundred might emulate Eastwood's character, it means that it's an accurate portrayal of reality. The producers of this movie had no obligation to portray a happy ending, and in the end that was a decision that made this a good movie that I enjoyed.