Film development, production, and release can vary widely in length due to various factors. Smaller productions, because of less lengthy post-production needs and prohibitive budgets necessitating a more protracted marketing campaign to recoup costs, often have shorter turnarounds. That’s assuming they already have distribution deals when made. While it is not unusual to have a writer/director with a film in theaters, it is uncommon for that writer/director to have those credits split over two films, but that is what will be happening on Christmas Day for Barry Jenkins, who is credited as the director for Mufasa: The Lion King which is in theatres as of December 20th, and is the screenwriter for The Fire Inside which will open in theatres on Christmas Day. Barry Jenkins is not unfamiliar with uncommon paths, he adapted/co-adapted Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk on the same writing trip. The Fire Inside was a script he wrote prior, and the film, which is the directorial debut of acclaimed cinematographer Rachel Morrison, shot for only two days before it shut down due to the pandemic, thus emphasizing the unpredictability that led to this duel pairing.
Reading the summary or watching the trailer for The Fire Inside, one might go into the film expecting a typical sports drama bio-pic that starts with the struggle and then takes you to the triumph. And while it does do that, it does more than that. If you’ve ever met a real Olympian in one of the less “marketable” sports in real life – aka the ones that don’t get put on cereal boxes, it’s a struggle to get to the games, and many are working 9-5s. In elementary school, a guy on Canada’s men’s Olympic boxing team visited my class to talk to us; he also worked at the L.C.B.O. bagging liquor and wine. The Fire Inside doesn’t shy away from this side of the sport. It contrasts the marketable all-glammed-up female boxer to Claressa Shields (played by Ryan Destiny), who doesn’t say the “right things.” And, rather than ending the movie on the Olympic win, it spends a lot of time looking at what that win means if you are not a “Michael Phelps,” even if you are the first woman to medal in your discipline for your country. And that the real fights are often not in the ring.
We meet Claressa as a child (Young Claressa, played by Jazmin Headley), determined to join the boxing club run by Jason (played by Brian Tyree Henry), which has always been only for boys. She fights her way in, and we quickly learn that her life has been a fight. Her mother, Jackie (played by Olunike Adeliyi), fluctuates from being neglectful to being present without warning, and her children have faced sexual abuse from men she’s allowed in her home. Through boxing, she can bring home some substance to her younger siblings, and it creates the dream of succeeding in boxing and getting them a home of their own.
What I enjoy about Barry Jenkins’ writing is how he centers the story and delivers information. It does not tell the audience exactly what is going on with Jackie, why she is sometimes a very present and together mom, and why other times she is someone who creates an unsafe space for her children. Whether it is mental health, addiction-related, or a combination of the two, the film only shows her actions and how they affect Claressa.
I also loved how the film portrayed Flint, particularly in the latter half of the film, as they rallied around their champion. There is also a wonderful sequence of Claressa going to prom that highlights the Michigan car culture.
Claressa Shields never ended up on a Wheaties box, but perhaps this film will get her some dues she deserves. Though the win the film ends on might not have been on the financial level as a major sponsorship, it reached a hand down for other boxers after her, making it easier for those who followed.
The Fire Inside will be in theatres on December 25th.
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