Featuring: Francis Barrett, Chick Gillen
Director: Liam McGrath
Producers: Paddy Breathnach, Robert Walpole
Cinematography: Cian de Buitlear
Music: Dario Marianelli
U.S. Distributor: The Shooting Gallery
Considering the generally high quality of the films represented by the Shooting Gallery's special spring series (which began with Judy Berlin in February and will conclude with Adrenaline Road in May), Southpaw is a colossal disappointment. An ineptly made documentary that doesn't deserve to be shown on television, let alone in a theater, this is an example of how poor filmmaking can overwhelm an interesting story. Southpaw had its world premiere at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, and the quality is indicative of typical Sundance documentaries: amateurish efforts that are used to fill schedule slots and are often rightfully ignored by distributors.
The plot synopsis of Southpaw makes the film sound like a mix of Hoop Dreams and Rocky. It's about Frankie Barrett, the first Traveller to represent Ireland in the Olympic Games. He did so in 1996, when he carried the Irish flag during the opening ceremonies and scored the largest-ever first round win over an opponent. Once back in Ireland, now a national hero, he set his sights on bigger goals: winning both the Irish and British Amateur Welterweight Titles. In the meantime, he was married and began raising a child.
Considering the richness of the story, the manner in which it is presented is a travesty. The film has none of the human interest of Hoop Dreams and none of the feel-good sense of Rocky. It's a badly-filmed, poorly-edited documentary that stumbles constantly in its attempts to tell Francis' tale over a two year period (from 1996 until 1998). For interviews, the camera always appears to be in the wrong place and the sound is often muted and garbled, making it almost impossible to understand speakers whose thick (and, in this case, unsubtitled) accents are already a challenge.
Director Liam McGrath doesn't have a clear focus. At times, he wants to present a straightforward biography of an unlikely hero. On other occasions, he attempts to make a social statement. The Travellers, a nomadic band of gypsies, may be Ireland's most discriminated-against minority group. The majority populace generally views them with contempt and ostracizes them. (Astute viewers may remember the 1997 film, Traveller, which took place within an American offshoot of this culture.) From time-to-time, McGrath probes into the Travellers' situation, but he pulls back any time the subject matter threatens to turn dark or distasteful. (He also does a poor job of explaining who the Travellers are, although that could be because the film was initially aimed at an audience who would already know.) Finally, there's an effort to illustrate the kind of positive influence that boxing can have on boys like Frankie, but even this element of the movie comes across as muddled (especially when compared to the fictional feature Girlfight, which drives the same point home forcefully and effectively).
Not only does Southpaw wander, but the director doesn't seem competent when it comes to assembling his film. One of the key events is Frankie's participation in the Atlanta Olympics. However, instead of sending a camera overseas with Frankie, McGrath remains in his hometown of Hillside, capturing the reactions of the locals (including his beloved coach, Chick Gillen) to the TV broadcasts. The only footage of Frankie is through excerpts from that coverage. McGrath's unwillingness or inability to be with Frankie and capture his thoughts and reactions during this crucial trip leaves a gaping hole at the movie's center.
Then there are the boxing sequences. From melodramas like Rocky to documentaries like When We Were Kings, fights on the big screen almost always raise the adrenaline level, even when the result is known beforehand. Watching Southpaw, I was ignorant of the outcome of every fight, but, because of the lazy manner in which McGrath presents them (typically with TV excerpts and home video shots), I didn't care. The matches are heavily edited so there's no time to become involved or interested. In that way, they're like the movie as a whole. Despite the seemingly "can't miss" premise, Southpaw is knocked down early in the first round, and, once on the mat, it's out for the count.
© 2000 James Berardinelli