By Lubna Abdel-Aziz Is there any romance in the brutal sport of boxing? Is there any grit in a tender children's fairy tale? It seems there is -- and it can be found in the heart of one fighter called The Cinderella Man. If you are not a boxing fan you may not be familiar with Jim Braddock dubbed the "Cinderella Man" by writer Damon Runyon because of his fairy tale-like rise from a poor local fighter struggling to support his wife and three kids to become the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. On 13 June, 1935 in Long Island New York, Jim Braddock a 10-to-1 underdog, stepped into the ring to fight the hardest hitter of all time. One of the most violent boxers, "known to have killed at least two fighters in the ring", iron-fisted Max Baer was the heavyweight champion of the world. Max reminded Braddock that "people die in fairy tales all the time" -- but as both men stepped into the ring, this was not to be. Like Cinderella, Jim the underdog, won, and rose from rags to riches in "the greatest fistic upset" of all time! Once in a long while a film comes along that spells "classic" well before its public release. Such is the case with Cinderella Man. Critics' enthusiasm is surprising, since Oscars have been handed to another boxing movie only a few months ago. After Million Dollar Baby ' s knock-out here comes another boxing movie. Word-of-mouth enthusiasm for the film has the Oscar buzz mounting by the minute. Oscar is not new to the talent assembled for Cinderella Man. One of the finest, most bankable, and most consistent directors in the industry, Ron Howard won his Oscar for best director in A Beautiful Mind (2001) and another with co-producer Brian Grazer for Best Picture. Our lovable "Miss Jones", Renée Zellwegger won for Cold Mountain (2004), and the incomparable Russell Crowe for The Gladiator (2001). Throw into the equation screenwriter Akiva Goldsman ( A Beautiful Mind ), actor Paul Giammati who keeps turning out strong performances ( Sideways ), cinematographer Salvatore Totino ( The Missing ), and you are bound to produce a classic. Who is this Cinderella Man and why does he have this "girly" name? His real name is Jim Braddock, heavyweight champion of the world in 1935-1937, and one of the most inspiring legends in the history of the sport. Inducted in the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2001, Jim Braddock became a folk hero to millions of Americans and boxing fans around the world during the "Depression". Although Braddock was more often than not outmatched in the ring, his courage and determination to fight and win, to conquer all odds, made him a mythic figure for the working man. He carried with him the hopes and dreams of all the disenfranchised who rooted and cheered for the underdog. Driven by love for his family, and an incredible amount of courage he never lost sight of his objectives. Jim Braddock dreamed the impossible dream, and made his dream come true, thereby giving hope to millions of dreamers, at a time when all they had were dreams. It has been said that "boxing's show business with blood". What a perfect formula for filmmakers who have resorted time and again to the boxing ring as a backdrop for numerous films, making the ring an allegory for life's struggle. From the forties until now boxing movies have always been a box- office draw -- Body and Soul (1947), Somebody Up there Likes Me (1956) , The Champ (1931, 1979), Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962) to Raging Bull (1980), the five Rocky (1976) film series, and last year's Million Dollar Baby. They have also been Oscar winners as well as "Cinderella" fairy tales. The success of Million Dollar Baby has even inspired interest in boxing as everyman's sport, and an ideal physical fitness exercise for both sexes. Professor James Como, himself a boxer and a boxing fan writes: "Boxing is a map of America's socio-economic past. Fighters have been Irish, Italian, Jewish and Black Americans, and many of today's boxers are Black and Hispanic." It is often the only way of making a living in a land where poor jobless immigrants arrive daily by the thousands. The enthused public paid hard- earned money to see two strong men beat each other up in a cordoned square platform measuring from 4.9 to 7.3 metres on each side, standing 0.9 to 1.2 metres above the floor of the arena. Putting two ferocious men face to face with each other throwing powerful punches often to the death, is one of the oldest of known sports. It has been a favourite spectacle for at least 5,000 years, as demonstrated on old Sumerian (Iraqi) carvings. In ancient Greece, two perfect male specimens would sit face to face on flat stones with their fists wrapped in thongs (strips of leather). At the start signal they would begin to hit each other until one of them drops, unconscious. The other continues to hit until his opponent is dead. The Romans followed with even more brutal matches. Both men stood up and moved in a small area, boxing with their 'cestuses' -- leather straps plated with metal fitted on their hands and forearms. In time the sport became too savage, even for the Romans. With the coming of Christianity in the first century, "cestuses" was prohibited and later on, the whole sport was cancelled. Boxing almost disappeared with the spread of Christianity until the English revived it in the 1600s. In 1709 James Figg opened a boxing school and began to teach his style of bare- knuckle or gloveless fighting. The fighters were expected to keep on fighting non-stop until one man could not continue. In the mid-1860s the Marquis of Queensbury sponsored a new boxing code of 12 rules that are practiced to this day. America on the other hand was long to accept the sport of boxing which was prohibited in many parts of the country, until the passing of the Walker Law in 1920, legalised boxing which quickly became a spectator sport. The US celebrated boxing and produced some of the most famous world champions like Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney and Joe Louis, the early champions, to Rocky Marciano followed by the champ who"flies like a butterfly, stings like a bee" -- the one and only Mohamed Ali, to the ear-biting Mike Tyson. The public continues to be riveted by the sport that has produced multi-million dollar superstars, while filmmakers continue to resort to the world of boxing for multi-million dollar revenues at the box-office. The first union of Russell Crowe and Ron Howard produced A Beautiful Mind, around a sensitive, emotional and mentally disturbed genius mathematician John Nash, who ends up winning the Nobel Prize. No one was more deserving of an Oscar than Crowe for A Beautiful Mind, one of the most intensely complex and emotionally laden performances on the screen. Because Crowe is Hollywood's 'Big Bad Boy', it went instead to Denzel Washington for an average performance in a forgettable film Training Day (2001). Such is the illogic logic of Hollywood. Ron Howard called again on Russell Crowe to play the small- time boxer Jim Braddock, who became a legend and a world champion. Down and out on his luck during the depression, Braddock risked his life every time he entered the ring to fight men stronger, abler, and more skilled. When he was asked why, he answered: "for milk". He fought to feed the family he loved day, after day, after day, and when he won the title of heavyweight champion it was not because of his great strength, prowess, or ability, it was because of the heart within his massive chest, beating with love for his family. Heart is behind every win of everyman, in every field, every day of our lives. When Russell Crowe portrays a big seemingly brutal man of heart as in The Gladiator, the impression he leaves on the viewer sears the heart for life. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. Antoine de Saint Exupéry (1900--1944)
