Product Details

• Actors: Daniel Day-Lewis, Daragh Donnelly, Frank Coughlan, Sean Kearns, Lorraine Pilkington
• Directors: Jim Sheridan
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: December 15, 1998
• Run Time: 110 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0783227280
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #34,675 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  Video > Art House & International > European Cinema > Ireland

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Yet another potent (although critically underrated) drama from Jim Sheridan and Daniel Day-Lewis, the Irish director and British star (respectively) of My Left Foot and In the Name of the Father. The story focuses on Danny Flynn (Day-Lewis), a promising boxer who had been imprisoned at age 18 for associating with IRA terrorists. After serving a 14-year sentence, he returns to his Belfast neighborhood at a time when local IRA leader Joe Hamill (Brian Cox) is attempting to negotiate a peace treaty with the British. Despite having no further interest in IRA rivalries, Danny finds himself at the center of political and emotional turmoil when he is reunited with his former girlfriend Maggie (Emily Watson, of Breaking the Waves) who, in Danny's absence, married another IRA man who is now in prison. A strict, unwritten law forbids relationships with the wives of IRA prisoners, but as the former boxer channels his energy into reviving a neighborhood boxing gym, the attraction between Danny and Maggie proves irresistible. This gives a strategic advantage to a militant IRA rival who opposes the peace treaty, drawing Danny back into the bitter and potentially deadly struggle between warring IRA factions. Emphasizing the emotional complexities that arise between Danny and Maggie, this powerful, superbly acted drama demonstrates a sharp understanding of the deep-rooted fears and loyalties that fuel the "troubles" in Ireland, where peace seemed to finally (if tentatively) be achieved in the summer of 1998. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Day-Lewis' best..., May 8, 2000

By	Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Boxer (Collector's Edition) (DVD)

This is a great film and I've watched it several times. The photography is stunning. The musical score is brilliant. The characters are believable and endearing. The film does not take sides except to say "Enough!" Enough bloodshed. Enough hatred. Enough poverty. Northern Ireland has had enough.

Daniel Day Lewis and Emily Watson give stellar performances. I saw Emily Watson in "Breaking the Waves" which I did not understand at all, but I did recognize a fine actress. I've seen all of Daniel Day Lewis' films--even his early releases. This is one of my favorite DDL films--a difficult choice as he has made so many excellent films. The supporting cast is composed of first class actors. The scenes are terribly realistic. I still jump when a bomb explodes early in the movie, and the boxing scenes are fabulous. (In the fifties I was a fan of Carmine Basilio, so I know what the real thing looks like.)

The contrast of stark, war-torn Belfast with tenacious individuals attempting to lead relatively normal lives--marrying, having children, teaching day-school, mopping floors, is heart-rending. Who wouldn't root for peace?

Those who have taken one side or the other in this awful conflict might not appreciate the neutrality of the film. That is the whole point. Most of the Irish are fed up and want to get on with their lives. I thought the coincidence of the film release with the current peace process effort was grand.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One Boxer's Rebellion, February 20, 2002

By	Gregor von Kallahann - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Boxer (Collector's Edition) (DVD)

It's odd that a film about such a volatile subject (Northern Ireland's "Troubles") should be so understated in its way, but Jim Sheridan's "The Boxer" is just that--despite the occasional explosion and political assassination. The trailers that I saw in theaters a few years back almost suggested one of those "lovers-torn-apart-in-a-world-gone-mad" films that we've all come to know and find suspect. But the tone of the actual film is really quite muted.

What makes "The Boxer" ring true is the very tentativeness of the relationship between Daniel Day-Lewis and Emily Watson's characters. One time teenage lovers, they have been separated for 14 years while Danny Flynn (Day-Lewis) served a prison term for unspecified political activity. Released now, at the age of 32, he wants only to be left alone and to resume his boxing career. To Sheridan's credit, the irony that the BOXER has, in fact, become a man of peace is not dwelled upon. Nor is the tentative reunion with his lost love exactly the stuff of Sturm und Drang.

There is an overall sense of Irish reserve in the film, a sense that brutal political realities have left all of its characters emotionally stunted. That may be "The Boxer's" greatest achievement, in fact, that the human cost of this political tragedy is not just measured in the body counts, but in the thousands of "small deaths" each individual experiences almost daily.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moody, Deep and Rewarding, October 3, 2003

By	WILLIE A YOUNG II "willow" (Houston, TX.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Boxer (Collector's Edition) (DVD)

I love Daniel Day-Lewis. His wounded slow burn as Danny Flynn, a man recently released from prison after more than a decade, returning to his old neighborhood and trying to escape the ghosts of his past but confronted by the woman he (still) loves, who has married and had a child and a host of friends still separated by the politics of war is a quiet revelation. While his attempt to revive his career as a fighter fizzles and his life is under constant threat, Danny makes the most of his situation by standing up against the opression and laws that have cost so many of his friends their freedom and in some cases, their lives. Emily Watson is note perfect as his former love interest and she brings a quiet dignity to her role as a single mother torn between devotion to her imprisoned husband, protecting her pre-teen son, and her resurging feelings for Danny. While many won't like the tone and pacing of this film, I find it entrancing and marvel at Day-Lewis vulnerable, quiet power. Superb!