The Boxer

This well-made film sometimes wobbles into territory of the stiff upper lip and Daniel Day-Lewis is way too civilized to look (or behave) like a working-class pug (although the fight sequences are very convincing he barely sports a scratch) but its core - the conflict of emotion and duty, is terrifically done thanks to the performances of Day-Lewis and Emily Watson (with excellent support by Brian Cox as the IRA boss). The film also works well in communicating a sense of the insanity of the Northern Ireland situation during the 1970s and the cycle of hatred that perpetuated it.

The film was the third teaming of director Sheridan and Daniel Day-Lewis following-on from My Left Foot (1989) and In The Name Of The Father (1993).

 

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