Brian Tyree Henry (left) as Jason Crutchfield and Ryan Destiny (right) as Claressa Shields in filmmaker Rachel Morrison’s “The Fire Inside” (Photo Credit: Sabrina Lantos/2024 Amazon Content Services, LLC).
(“The Fire Inside” trailer courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios)
Have you ever wondered why so many boxers, except for Jake Paul, come from impoverished backgrounds?
Have you ever noticed that it takes a special kind of person to make a living by getting their brains beaten out of them?
The movie “The Fire Inside” shows that sometimes people have no option but to fight for their survival.
And even when they climb that proverbial mountain, the fight for survival never ceases because society never meant for some people to succeed in certain avenues of life.
One of those avenues of life is boxing because everyone knows boxing is a man’s sport.
Therefore, no girls or women need to apply.
After all, boxing should remain a non-woke sport, right?
Wrong, especially if the person being asked is Claressa Shields (Ryan Destiny).
For some reason, even as a little girl, she gravitates towards pugilism and the pupils getting trained by Flint, Mich. coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry).
Despite young Claressa (Jazmin Headley) constantly showing up to his gym uninvited, Jason constantly informs Claressa that he only trains little boys in the ring.
However, persistence pays off.
And Brian finally allows young Claressa to enter the ring to fight young Lil’ Zay (Taytem Douglas), a young male boxer who often dominates his fellow boys in battle.
With a little coaching from Jason, Claressa shows her promise in the ring, even versus the boys.
Therefore, Jason puts much of his attention into her career when he sees a promising future for her in the world of boxing.
However, potential and promise might mean nothing when a young person has so many distractions in their personal life.
In “The Fire Inside,” Claressa comes from dysfunctional home.
Sure, her mother cares about her and her younger siblings.
But that does not mean that she has her act together or is a responsible adult.
Many times, the children do not have food to eat.
And when they do have cereal, they often do not have milk to go with it.
In fact, it is Claressa who has taken on a maternal and paternal role with her younger siblings because Claressa’s father is out of the picture as well.
For those reasons, when Claressa finds out that she has potential as an amateur boxer, she sees it as an opportunity to make life a little easier for her family.
Too bad Claressa does not make life easier for her opponents because she seemingly takes out all her frustration and pain on the girls who dare to enter the ring with her.
Her pain, hunger and talent take her to the top of the world.
But even when she reaches the top of the world in female boxing, she finds herself facing her biggest hurdle in a world that does not always see women as equal to men when it comes to endorsements and sponsorships.
While fellow athletes like Michael Phelps are flooded with sponsorship opportunities, many female athletes are treated like yesterday’s news even if they are just as accomplished as some of their male counterparts.
While Destiny shines as Claressa, the story of Shields is well-known to many sports fans across the world.
Although that is not a knock on “The Fire Inside,” the stories that often truly shine in movies about well-known figures are the stories about people behind the scenes of the famous protagonist’s journey.
The story of Jason is one that many moviegoers will never grow tired of seeing.
In “The Fire Inside,” Jason is everything that Black men are in the real world even if it does not always translate into the movie and television world.
Although Hollywood often portrays Black men in stereotypical ways, the true story of Jason is the type of story that Black people often beg Hollywood to tell.
He is a dedicated husband.
Jason is a dedicated father.
He is dedicated to his day job.
And he is also completely invested in his volunteer work helping the children of Flint, Mich.
When some of the children do not have father figures, Jason becomes their paternal figure.
When the children do not have the resources to pursue their dreams, Jason takes financial losses to help them reach the promised land.
And when kids do not have homes to lay their head, his home becomes their home.
However, he does not do it alone.
To be a father for the community, Jason must have a wife willing to fill the motherly role for the neighborhood children.
That type of role requires sacrifice.
It requires a selflessness.
It requires dedication.
Thankfully, Jason and his wife possess all the above.
In “The Fire Inside,” Henry portrays Jason in a real way that does not become stereotypical or a caricature in the way that he talks.
He does not always speak the king’s English.
However, his passion for the children makes him royalty.
Nevertheless, Destiny displays her own passion.
When she wins, she becomes angry that the win is not more convincing.
When her family needs an adult in the room, she becomes that grown-up even as a young teenager.
And when the powers-that-be try to take Claressa’s power and glory away, she refuses, becoming a beacon of hope for all female athletes, contemporaries and proteges.
Unfortunately, many sports movies become formulaic and cliché because they usually become the typical feel-good flick.
“The Fire Inside” is no different.
But “The Fire Inside” is fire because of how far Claressa comes and how she is willing to do anything to make sure her family does not stay in their predicament, even if she must fight nonstop.
REGAL RATINGS
FOUR CROWNS=EXCELLENT
THREE CROWNS=GOOD
TWO CROWNS=AVERAGE
ONE CROWN=POOR
