Shadows Boxing

Towards the end of Million Dollar Baby thetells Frankie at one point, "If I don't have this, I
character Scraps, ex boxing great turned gymhave nothing"; Scraps literally lives in the gym, in a
porter, says of a character who has been awaysmall space in a corner with a curtain.He never
from the gym for a while, "And then a ghostleaves the place (Frankie invites him to come to
walked in." This is an inadvertant commentary onVegas for a fight and he says, "Do you know
almost all the principal characters in the film, andwhat this place would look like if I left it?")
thier relationships to each other.Scraps (MorganEveryone whom Frankie seems to care about in
Freeman) is a ghost for Frankie (Clint Eastwood),his life has been gravely hurt by him - his
as is Maggie (Hillary Swank) - the former becausedaughter, Maggie, and Scraps. The gym is a place
he lost sight in one eye in a match, many yearsof vicousness and street consciousness - a bully
ago, partly due to Frankie, and the latter becausebeats an annoying punk to a bloody pulp, only to
as time goes on she becomes a surrogate for hisbe knocked out cold in turn by Scraps. Frankie
long gone daughter who refuses to reconcile withand Maggie are both on horrible terms with their
him (we are not told exactly what went wrongimmediate families, and Scraps has no family in
between Frankie and his daughter, though we seesight;it is such a nonissue for him that none is
that he has a shoebox full of letters he sent herever even mentioned.In this world, in these lives,
marked RETURN TO SENDER).Frankie goes tothe characters share much that is bleak and
Mass every day; the priest tells him, "Write todismal, yet the end effect of the film on the
your daughter." Scraps and Maggie bond becauseviewer is one of hope, respect, and dignity
both have been trained by Frankie. Scraps andnonetheless. Any time one character turns to
Maggie, without knowing it, become mirrors ofanother, their souls,their cores, relate - and in this
each other, each having been gravely hurt inway these relationships reveal to us some of the
boxing matches with Frankie as their manager.essential truths about humanity.Peter Quinones is
Yet, at the same time, they mirror each other inthe author of Amethyst Secrets, published by I
another way - boxing is their whole life (MaggieUniverse.