Million Dollar Baby Assessment

Movie Review
Million Dollar Baby is a film directed, co-produced and scored by Clint Eastwood.
Released in 2004
Rated PG-13
The movie starts out in a gym in Los Angeles, owned by Frankie(Clint Eastwood). Narrarated by Frankie's best friend and ex-boxer(Morgan Freeman). A middle-aged waitress named Maggie(Hilary Swank) starts working out in his gym and wants Frankie to train her. Frankie refuses to train her over and over for years until the boxer he's been training leaves him for a sponser. They start training and she continues to get better throughout the movie, and wins all her fights.
Along the way, Frankie and Maggie stop by Maggie's old house where her family lives to tell them she bought them a house. Her family not only isn't greatful, but they get mad at her for buying them a house because they're concerned about the affect this will have on their steady stream of welfare money.
Maggie works her way to the top and right as her championship fight is almost over, the other boxer in the ring takes a cheap shot at Maggie and she falls and hits the stool in the ring and becomes paralyzed from the neck down.
Maggie is now stuck in the hospital, and can only leave her bed by being set up in a wheelchair by a bunch of nurses. Maggie doesn't feel that this is worth all the trouble to live like this after she has had the experience of boxing.
It's a good movie, with a sad ending. I feel like they did a good job of turning the short story into a movie. Million Dollar Baby is definitely a movie I would recommend seeing, especially if you've read the short story.

Movie Questions:
How effectively do you think this film was cast? Did the director do a quality job assigning parts to appropriate actors? Why or why not?
I think this film was cast very well. All of the actors fit the look and personality of the characters in the short story. Frankie was a old boxing coach, and even though Clint Eastwood's raspy voice got a little annoying while watching the movie, he fit the character very well. Hilary Swank did a great job with the role of Maggie. She had the hillbilly way of talking down very well and was very believable as Maggie.

Describe how well you think this film was adapted from the story? What parts of the story were missing? What was maintained?
I think the film overall did a very good job of adapting the story. All of the main events from the story were shown in the movie. I didn't really notice anything that was missing from the story, I feel like they covered everything from the story and added more to it. In the story they only really talk about Frankie visiting the church and his priest once, but in the movie he visits several times.

What additional plot lines and characters were added to the movie that added positively to the film? Explain how these characters and stories enhanced our sympathies toward Maggie and Frankie, and also improved the movie overall?
They added in Morgan Freeman's character, Eddie, as the gym's janitor (sort of), ex-boxer, and Frankie's best friend. Also they added in another extra character around the gym that got picked on, that Eddie watches out for and ends up defending him. During the years that Frankie won't train Maggie, Eddie gives her a few suggestions to help her get better. Any character that Morgan Freeman plays enhances movies.

What do you believe about assisted suicide? Do you believe that Frankie made the right choice?
The idea of assisted suicide is scary. I don't think I could ever help someone do that, even in Maggie's situation. I do believe that Frankie made the right choice, because she wanted him to do it and even took the drastic measure of biting off her tongue to try and bleed to death. When someone is that desperate and has nothing left to live for it's inhumane to not help them out. I feel like when you compare it to putting down a sick dog that's in pain,it's the same situation and should be treated the same if the person feels it's their time to go.

Both the story and the movie end after Frankie's painful choice. What do you think happens next in his life? Will he return to training? Boxing?
I think he might try and re-connect with his daughter, maybe. He might just get really depressed and blame himself further for Maggie's death. I don't think he would train again after Maggie, at least not for a very long time. I feel like he wouldn't go back to boxing at his age.