“…the biggest lie I was ever told: It is not that simple. And it is a lie they tell you over and over again…All of it. It is how they get you to give up, they say “It’s not that simple”.”
It’s a line that Miles Teller as Vinny Pazienza, says towards the end of this film. It’s a beautiful sentiment, and he should know. Pazienza is a real person, a man whose boxing career was ostensibly ended when his neck was broken during a car accident. Whilst he was told that he would never walk again, Vinny refused to admit this possibility, and not only walked but went on to become a World Champion Boxer.
Boxing movies seem to me to fall into two camps, either the lovable underdogs like Rocky, who have to prove themselves, or the cautionary biographic like Raging Bull, where the real man is shown to the world, in his often ugly glory. Someone who has admirable skill, but aspects of his personal life that we might not like to emulate. It’s an interesting dichotomy, perhaps. The boxer in the ring is much like David and Goliath, a tale that feels as old as time, but always relevant. There will always be boxing films.
Bleed For This is the story of Vinny Pazienza, the young boxer who is the light in his fathers eye as he trains him for the sport, but who perhaps doesn’t appreciate how fragile life is until an accident almost ends his career. It’s not his family who urge him to keep going, but a trainer called Kevin Rooney, played by Aaron Eckhart in one of those career making physical transformations that render him almost unrecognisable. Rooney sees that Vinny is going to keep going, no matter what he’s told, and so he decides to help, but it’s not easy. They face the opposition of the concerned Pazienza family, and other boxers who are too wary to fight a man that they feel could be killed by a punch, and of course, there’s also the opposing force of reality, of fighting each day to walk, and move, to retrain.
Whilst I love the line at the end about ignoring people who tell you it’s not that easy, this film isn’t a Tony Robbins seminar, it’s a picture of the man. To use my own dichotomy above, it’s Rocky dressed as Raging Bull. At least kinda. Pazienza is at first quite arrogant, and sometimes not entirely likeble. His personal life is not overly romanticised for us, and though often quite funny, such as scenes where he’s trying to get laid while wearing a head brace, it paints what feels like an accurate portrait of a young boxer. But like Rocky, without the determination and the training montages, he’ll never make it back to the big leagues.
Perhaps knowing that he will make it detracts a little from the suspense, but Miles Teller is an interesting performer in all his films, with his cocky, guy next door style, works well here. You believe that he’s the kind of guy who would be foolish enough to take his career a little bit for granted, drinking the night before bouts, for example, but also the kind of guy who is stubborn enough to not give up on the only thing he’s ever wanted to do with his life, and make that work for him.
So what’s the verdict? Is the film any good? Well, yeah. It’s glossy and raw, it has real emotion, and the performances are all really good. It has, at heart, an inspirational message, but it doesn’t descend into saccharine sweetness. But at the same time, it’s a genre movie, and it follows the rules of it’s genre. Therefore, if you like boxing movies, you’ll like this movie. If you don’t, you won’t. It’s not particularly innovative. But, that said… well, sometimes in life it’s nice to hear about a guy who did what couldn’t be done.
It’s that simple.
Bleed for This is out on DVD & Blu-Ray now.
