Hitting the US cinemas in December and the UK screens almost 2 months later in February 2011, The Fighter stirred quite some dust at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles a few weeks ago. The movie was first screened after a last-minute announcement by Paramount and well received by the audience and critics, so much so it wouldn’t come as a surprise to see it on the Oscar nomination list.

Lead actor and producer Mark Wahlberg has put a lot of time and literally physical effort into The Fighter, apparently not only to steel up his abs. Introducing the film at the AFI Fest he told the audience:

The Fighter tells the story of “Irish” Micky Ward (Wahlberg), now a boxing legend himself but back in the 1980s sparring away in the shadow of his bigger half-brother and boxer Dickie Eklund (Christian Bale). Only after Dickie was KO’d by drug abuse and crime, Micky had a chance to rise in the ring. Although his paroled brother trained Micky for a few years, the youngster’s career only takes off after some gruelling battles outside the ring.

The movie has a rather long making-of story, much of which had to do with changing names on the cast and crew lists (more background here). It seems the project got whacked around quite a lot before it finally arrived on the big screen. Judging by the responses it has received so far though, The Fighter seems to be more than a period and family drama dressed in the typical underdog story.

I’m not exactly a boxing fan but it will be interesting to see if the film transcends the ring like the Rocky Saga (1976-2006) and Raging Bull (1980) once did.