What do we do with hormone hyper-driven
adolescent girls whose rebellion reaches far beyond the influence of
parents and educators in a segment of society fraught with bleakness of
survival? Are we ready to accept and nurture a woman’s frightful
warrior spirit when she chooses to channel it in a boxing ring? Karyn
Kusama’s feature directorial debut Girlfight dares just that,
but far from being a mere proponent for woman’s boxing, Girlfight uses
the world and pressure of the sport to confront one nearly delinquent
teenager with the ultimate quest of self-discovery and empowerment.
Aside from being a film of tremendous social importance and inspiration
for teens, Girlfight also delivers us the immensely talented new
director and story teller Karyn Kusama, who already exhibits touching
insight into the human condition and a firm directorial hand.
The tone of the film is clearly
established in the opening scene with the camera picking up passing
people and zeroing in on a figure standing by the wall. The drab, nearly
military clothing finally reveals a young woman, seemingly invisible to
those around her, but with an attitude of fire and anger that burns
through the screen. She intrigues and challenges us, and we are
instantly hooked.
The young woman is Diana Guzman (Michelle
Rodriguez). She solves her adolescent displacement and confusion by
slamming her fists into whatever and whoever provokes her. She doesn’t
understand nor is she interested in being like other girls in the school
who are mastering the skill of flirting their way through life.
Unfortunately, there is no one in Diana’s life to offer her an
alternate direction. Her father (Paul Calderon) pushes her younger
brother (Ray Santiago) to excel in sports, but treats Diana as a lost
cause with no talents and opportunities. The irony developed with
delicious digging at stereotypes comes as the boy eschews physicality
for cartooning. A new world opens for Diana when she discovers a boxing
club where her brother is taking lessons. Diana convinces her brother’s
teacher Hector (Jaime Tirelli) to train her as well. Her friendship with
Adrian (Santiago Douglas), a young boxer aspiring to turn pro, blossoms
into romance, which culminates in the ultimate test for both of them.
That Diana is made for boxing is so
obvious that the realization rocks us out of the remnants of
stereotypical perception of the gentle female sex. However, the savage
intimacy of boxing grows more into a metaphor for the intensity of
dedication and focus required to bring a woman in touch with herself.
Diana’s bent towards violence was only indicative of the misdirected
energy in her desperate struggle to claw her way out of a bleak
existence. In the boxing ring, the misdirection is transformed into
aspiration, but Diana ultimately fights for self-discovery. The
discipline of physical conditioning and the pain of accepting her
weakness in order to build up her strength ultimately allows Diana to
open up to her vulnerability and thus develop her relationship with
Adrian based on heart-felt sharing, acceptance, and understanding rather
than fleeting moments of meaningless flirtation. These two are soul
mates from hard, bleak urban streets, each physically trained to a peak,
both finding their purpose in the pain and protection of discipline.
In the development of romance between
Adrian and Diana, sexual temptation is bound to come up. For two young
people living in the projects with little to look forward to, the urge
to drown reality in sensual pleasures is irresistible. In a moment of
tantalizing closeness and mutual attraction, Adrian is the one who
vetoes sex because it will consume the energy he needs for his match the
following day. In fact, the two don’t have sex during the course of
the story. It is through the priority of perfecting themselves as boxers
that they are able to know each other as people and open themselves to
the vulnerability necessary for love and lovemaking. This kind of
intimacy is rarely shown to young ones these days and is a welcome
relief from the facile teen formula of quick lust and mating.
The long search for an actress to play
the role of Diana Guzman came to a close in a remarkable discovery of
Michelle Rodriguez from among 350 candidates at an open call audition.
Michelle never acted before, but she breathes rebellion in the first
part of the movie as much as she embodies discipline and control in the
second. She is completely believable as a female fighter and did many of
her own gut busting and muscle wrenching workout routines.
The quality cast is complemented by the
sheer range of the film’s sensual imagery. The lighting and vibrant
colors heighten the primal thrill of two people fighting in the ring.
The production design of the gym invokes the musty smell of sweat, old
floors, and dirt forgotten in closets and corners. But the gym is also a
sanctuary. The bright light shining on the roped rings turns them into
pedestals for self-exploration in which the outside world has no power,
only what one is made of counts. Finally, the sharp, exact beats of the
flamenco soundtrack complete the picture with the unwavering sense of
one-pointed motion that fires up the atmosphere nearly as much as the
unforgettable characters.
With all of our positive perspective on
the film, some aspects of the theme and plot development seemed too pat
or unrealistic. Supposedly, Guzman’s father drove her mother to
suicide. That is certainly a chilling reality in a world of urban grit,
but if he were really such a bad man, why would his daughter not have
abandoned him long ago, especially a daughter with the pluck of Guzman.
Lastly, Diana’s victory fight lacked believability on the deepest
textual level. Even if Diana might have beaten her opponent because she
is a better boxer, their personal relationship makes it hard to believe
that he would have fought her with all of his might.
The emergence of Girlfight at this
time marks perhaps that we are truly opening to the full display of
human potential in its raw, sweaty, muscled feminine mystery.
