de facto film reviews 3 stars

The Fire Inside, the debut film from the talented Rachel Morrison, is the true story of boxer Claressa Shields, who won gold at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, Here, you see her story from the beginning, and her meeting with her coach and mentor, Jason Crutchfield. As Crutchfield, Bryan Tyree Henry gives an Oscar-nomination worthy performance. In many ways, this film is as much about Crutchfield as it is about Shields. That is due in part to the balance of writer Barry Jenkins script, but also the skill with which Henry brings Crutchfield to such vibrant life.

Courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

While it is the characters that most resonate in this work, director Morrison uses her background as a cinematographer, to ensure the faces and locations are perfectly, sometimes poetically, captured. Set mostly in the city of Flint, Michigan, The Fire Inside achieves some level of reality, though there are moments where anyone familiar with the city will scratch their head and wonder why there was not a little more physical research done. Some outdoor shooting does help the film convince that it is Flint, but at the same time, the streets are too clean, and the location of certain buildings do not line up. These quibbles aside, the tiny details beyond this are convincing, most especially the look and feel of the Berston Field House, where Claressa and so many other athletes have trained in Flint.

It is at the Field House that the young Claressa shows up, impressing Crutchfield, who takes her on despite his “no girls” rule. He is not an official, paid coach. His day job is as a utilityman, and his work with kids and athletes is something he donates to the community in which he lives. The movie quickly jumps forward and spends a majority of time focusing on the lead up to the 2012 gold medal. The final act traces what happened in the intervening years, mostly in the disappointing, for Claressa, year after the win, when she was told she was not the type of personality that advertisers were looking for.

Courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

Here is where the film wobbles a bit. If this is supposed to be Claressa’s story, it needs to be her story, but she is hard to know. She is driven at times, and angry, but who is she, really, and why should we care when her mother, who is shown to be a less than positive influence, suddenly turns out to be fine? Is this supposed to be her growing up? Ryan Destiny acquits herself very well as Shields, but needed more material with meat on the bone in order to create a more interesting character The combination of Destiny and Henry is electric and creates a large amount of the empathy one will experience during the film. Aside from these two, the rest of the cast of characters are sadly lacking any real depth.

Yet it is enough, for this film to be recommended. It is an important story about not giving up your hopes and dreams and not letting others define you or limit you. The two stars turn in superb work that should be seen and Jenkins script is serviceable. Morrison’s direction, again owing to her background, is full of visual flourishes. It is not for nothing that she worked with Ryan Coogler, and her impact on his works, Fruitvale Station, and Black Panther, can be seen here.

Courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

The Fire Inside is very good. With a tighter script and some minor attention to details that only locals or historians would likely care about, this could have been a great film. As it stands, it is a well-made, moving picture that makes its point. Slight deduction for pulling punches but see this one.

The Fire Inside is now playing in theaters.