It marked the end of an unofficial trilogy of amazing movies.
Having collaborated on two of the best and most successful Irish films of all time – 1989’s My Left Foot and 1993’s In the Name of the Father – director Jim Sheridan and actor Daniel Day-Lewis teamed up once more for an even more ambitious project.
Set in Belfast, The Boxer was the pair’s first non-biographical drama together and was released in 1997, a year before the Good Friday Agreement. In the film, we see the IRA debating whether to enter into peace talks with the British Government.
While the war-weary IRA commander Joe (Brian Cox) wants to put an end to the fighting and is willing to make some concessions to do so, others in the organisation believe he has gone soft. Chief among the latter is Joe’s lieutenant Harry (a menacing Gerard McSorley), a man that turned bitter after losing his young son in the conflict and who does not want his child’s death to have been for nothing.
Entering into this powder keg situation is Danny Flynn (Day-Lewis), a 32-year-old former boxer and IRA member who spent 14 years in prison – taking the rap for something Harry orchestrated and thus, leaving behind his teenage sweetheart Maggie (Emily Watson) – who happens to be Joe’s daughter.
Now getting out of jail, he attempts to live a peaceful life. As part of this, he sets up a boxing club intended for both Catholic and Protestant children with his former trainer Ike (Ken Stott), while aiming to get back into the sport himself. Meanwhile, a romance sparks once again between him and Maggie, who has since become a mother and wife to an imprisoned IRA member.
However, as his non-sectarian sports club becomes a beacon of hope for the community and his relationship with Maggie blossoms, Danny finds himself the target of an increasingly bloodthirsty Harry, who is hell-bent on things remaining the way they are.
Clip via Shout Factory
As readers will probably gather from that lengthy plot summation, co-writer and director Jim Sheridan, alongside his frequent writing partner Terry George, weave together a complex narrative in The Boxer – with the film functioning as both a Troubles story, a sports drama and a tale of forbidden love.
To their credit, however, the writers manage to nail the balance of plot threads, ultimately arguing that love and community-building efforts such as sports clubs can function as antidotes to seemingly endless cycles of violence.
And despite not being a biographical drama and featuring a quite convoluted plot, there is a streak of authenticity and realism that runs through The Boxer that prevents proceedings from ever becoming too cloying or saccharine.
Part of this is down to its bleak and oppressive depiction of the Catholic section of Belfast in the mid-90s, with the – at the time of filming – rundown docklands and Sheriff Street area of Dublin’s north inner city standing in for the North.
Another factor is the cast, with each of the actors mentioned above doing stellar work making their characters feel lived-in and three-dimensional. And while the majority of the main cast is not Irish, those playing characters from Northern Ireland all boast solid accents, particularly Watson.
That said, special praise should go in particular to Day-Lewis. Already well-known for his method acting by the time of The Boxer, the actor prepared for three years to accurately play a fighter in the sport.
Day-Lewis and Watson in The Boxer
As part of this, he trained with Irish boxing promoter and former professional boxer Barry McGuigan – who is said to have inspired the character of Danny – for a year-and-a-half, with the real sportsman calling him “phenomenal”.
“[Day-Lewis] trained like a professional fighter, harder than some of them train, I’m telling you,” McGuigan recounted years after the movie’s release.
“He sparred about 500 rounds, got his nose broke, sparred with really good quality fighters.”
McGuigan even said Day-Lewis was so proficient at boxing after the training that he could have easily competed against the leading boxers in his weight class.
“At the time, I was doing a lot of commentating with Sky – week in, week out,” he said.
“All the middleweights in the UK, take out the top three, four – he could mix it easily.
“I’m absolutely deadly serious. He was determined… He was one of these guys who could really punch. His work ethic is just incredible.”
Clip via Shout Factory
The work the actor put into the performance is all up on the screen, with the three major scenes involving his character in the ring against real-life boxers all feeling hard-hitting and real (UFC commentator and podcaster Joe Rogan famously described Day-Lewis’ portrayal of a professional boxer as the “most believable” on film.)
The Boxer was a hit upon its release in cinemas 25 years ago, grossing around three times its budget at the box office.
That said, it was not as big a financial success as My Left Foot and In the Name of the Father and, unlike those previous Day-Lewis and Sheridan collaborations, it did not receive any Oscar nominations.
However, while The Boxer may be less well-regarded than its predecessors, it nevertheless stands on its own as an entertaining, ambitious and worthy conclusion to a terrific trilogy of Irish movies.
The Boxer is available to watch at home right now on Apple TV+, Google Play and Sky Store.
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