In the history of movie making, many of the best screenplays are about true stories, even better are true sports stories. The new movie "The Fire Inside" is one of those great true stories about an athlete, this time an amateur woman boxer, Claressa Shields played by Ryan Destiny, who is the first boxer in history, man or woman to win the gold medal in two consecutive Olympics: 2012 London and 2016 Rio.
Claressa's story is about being poor in the worst living conditions in Flint Michigan, where every day was a struggle to stay alive and try and find the strength to make it to another day. This story starts in 2006 when Claressa was 11 years old and would wander over to a local boxing gym where a boxing trainer Jason Crutchfield, played by Brian Tyree Henry would train young boys how to box. At first, Jason refused to train a girl, but through perseverance, Claressa was eventually trained by Crutchfield who soon found out that this young girl had a powerful "fire inside".
Despite her extremely dysfunctional home life, Claressa's impressive work ethic and determination, are portrayed very well in this story, all the way through a series of boxing tournaments that led Claressa to China and then to the London Olympics in 2012 - an almost impossible feat for a 17-year-old girl from a poor neighborhood in Flint Michigan.
Once the Olympic gold medal is obtained, the real-life part of this story begins because of all of the endorsements that were expected to rescue Claressa from her life of squalor - none of them came through, despite the efforts of Claressa's coach Jason Crutchfield to find her a deal. This was because marketing executives did not think that a woman fighting other women was good for selling products. This part of the story I thought was the best, reminding us that calling life "unfair" has never been a strong enough word.
The conclusion involved Clarissa moving to Denver to train with the Olympic team try try and win another Gold medal, supported financially by the U.S. Olympic team. This choice turned out to be the only option Clarissa had to generate an income from her Gold medal that at one point, she thought of selling to a Pawn Broker.
The actress who played Clarissa, Ryan Destiny, has a perfect movie star face, excellent acting ability, and did a great job in all of the boxing scenes. Brian Tyree Henry is also great in his role as a boxing trainer living in a very poor neighborhood trying to help kids.
The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for this film are a very accurate 95% and receives my highest recommendation.
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