Million Dollar Baby is the story of an American girl’s dream of becoming a professional boxer. This 2004 release was directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood. The movie is about Margaret Fitzgerald, played by Hilary Swank, whose only passion in life is her dream of becoming a successful boxer. It also stars Clint Eastwood playing the role of Frankie Dunn, who trains and helps Margaret achieve her dream.
Margaret shows up at Dunn’s gym and asks him to train her but he refuses saying that he doesn’t train girls. She does not give up and works hard at his gym. Dupris persuades him and finally he agrees to train her. Margaret wins most of her bouts in women’s welterweight boxing. She faces Bille, women's welterweight champion, in her title fight. The big title fight leaves Margaret paralyzed from neck down, putting an end to her career as a professional boxer. Knowing that there is no hope of recovery, Margaret asks her trainer to end her life while she still remembers her professional glories. Eventually Frankie agrees and before giving her the fatal injection, he finally tells her the meaning of Gaelic fighting name he gave her which meant “my darling”.
The movie received several accolades and positive reviews for its story and power-packed performances by Hilary Swank and Clint Eastwood. Hilary Swank won the Best Actress award at the 2004 Academy Awards. The movie also won the award for Best Picture of 2004 and Best Director for Clint Eastwood at Academy Awards.
The movie is about a girl’s dream of making it big in a sport that she loves. The character Margaret is a fighter. Maggie fights her way to reach the top in order to get what she wants from life. She is also not afraid of death as she herself asks her trainer to kill her. And when he refuses she even tries to commit suicide by biting her tongue repeatedly. The film describes the connection and strong bond between strangers as Dunn finds a substitute daughter in Maggie. The movie is about the determination of a woman who wants to do something in life and inspires other women to follow their dreams and work hard to achieve them.
