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Our reporter Ada attended the red carpet for the London Film Festival world premiere of The Fight, Jessica Hynes' directorial debut in which she also stars as a worn-out mother of three that finds solace in the boxing ring.
Ada spoke with Hynes and producers Noel Clarke and Jason Maza about their advice for young filmmakers and what the best ways are to overcome your fears. Watch the interview with Hynes above, and with Clarke and Maza below.
For more films that explore sports on the big screen, take a look at our film list below for ideas on how to bring these stories into the classroom.
Ada reviews The Fight
The Fight is a drama directorial debut from Jessica Hynes, who also wrote and starred in the film. It follows Tina, a mother of three with a full-time job (and her husband working full-time as well, with night shifts) who is dealing with a multitude of problems: her eldest daughter is being bullied, she meets her old school rival again, and her mother is fighting with her father. All of this sounds overwhelming, because it is. Tina, in the little spare time she seems to have, steps in the fighting ring to deal with her new and old life problems. In this film, she doesn't just box in the actual ring, but also for her self-esteem.
Usually, when the theme of school bullying is covered in a film, it's done very unrealistically and even cringey to look at. However, with The Fight it was done better than I expected. I especially liked how the bully was portrayed; she thought of herself as the victim, and even told her mum that she was being bullied by Tina's daughter. We are also shown that the bully's home life is difficult because her single mother drinks excessively. One of the many reasons why people bully is because they are having problems at home.
An element of the storyline that I liked in The Fight was that not everything was told on screen. We are told that Tina did something to Amanda (her old school rival) so scarring that, although Tina is deeply filled with regret, she still holds a grudge against Tina. What did Tina do that was so terrible?
In conclusion, I thought The Fight was an interesting look into a hectic life of a working mother, and a overall good directorial debut film.
