Southpaw
Ireland/UK 1998
Reviewed by Geoffrey Macnab
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
This documentary depicts two years in the life of Francis Barrett, a young traveller from Galway. Coached from an early age by Chick Gillen, a local barber, Francis shows a rare talent for boxing. Despite training in a rickety gym outside the caravans where his family live, he qualifies for the Irish Olympic team for Atlanta in 1996 and gets to carry the Irish flag during the opening ceremony. He wins his first bout easily. Although beaten in his second, he is already a national hero and relishes the chance to represent the travelling people in the media glare.
After the Olympics, Francis marries and moves to London. He works in a variety of casual jobs and starts training at a new gym with a London coach. He competes in both English and Irish ABAs. Barrett wins the English title but is defeated in the Irish final. Although tempted to turn professional, his mind is set on the Sydney Olympics. As the film ends, he still has to qualify for the Games. Advisors and journalists believe that he has come as far as he can with Chick and that he'll have to train with a new coach in order to fulfil his potential.
Review
When Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat made Geordie (1955), a film about a little lad from the Highlands who grows up to be an Olympic hammer thrower, it seemed as if they were indulging in preposterous wish-fulfilment fantasy. Liam McGrath's Southpaw offers a story every bit as improbable, but one that happens to be true. Francis Barrett, a young boxer, rises up the amateur ranks in an astonishingly short time to represent Ireland at the Atlanta Olympics. He carries the flag for his country at the opening ceremony, a singular achievement for somebody who grew up an itinerant traveller.
A southpaw, Barrett explains at the start of the film, is a boxer who leads with the right hand and punches with the left, who gets in under an opponent's guard and makes matters awkward. On a metaphorical level, the travellers do something similar. Local councillors regard them as an irritant, a drain on taxpayers' money. Rarely allowed to settle in one place for more than a few months, they are treated as malingerers and under-achievers, and encounter discrimination on a day-to-day basis. This is what makes Barrett's success all the more unlikely. He trained in a rickety old homemade gym and sparred with his brothers in the yard. Whereas Sylvester Stallone's Rocky had the wizened old Burgess Meredith as mentor, Francis is guided by Chick, a kindly boxing-loving barber.
On one level, Southpaw is a sporting fairytale. Barrett, clean-cut and enthusiastic, is immediately likable. Just by being in the public eye, he counters long-held prejudices about the travellers. However, his story is not quite as gilt-edged as it may at first seem. Relatively early in the film Barrett wins his first fight at the Atlanta Olympics, but is comprehensively beaten in his second. Back in Galway, a huge crowd of his friends and relatives look on in dismay.
The real strength of the documentary lies in its account of what happens to the returning hero. He marries, moves to London and becomes a father. After his meteoric rise, he is forced into the daily grind like any other aspiring boxer. Southpaw offers an insider's view of the boxing world. Barrett takes on fight after fight in his bid to win both the English and Irish ABA titles. The documentary-makers are given access to the gym, to Barrett's changing room, and are even able to film Barrett's corner during bouts. We see his colourful English trainer swearing away at the referee and whispering encouragement to Barrett between rounds. Like Ron Peck's Fighters, the film captures the monotony of training, the tension before big fights and the camaraderie that the sport inspires.
There is nothing especially cinematic about Southpaw, nor does it offer a comprehensive account of Barrett's life (we barely see the other members of his family). At the end, it's not clear whether he will ever qualify for the Sydney Olympics or turn professional. His story has not grown any less interesting since Southpaw was completed: it was reported in the Irish Times in August 1998 that he was stabbed in Galway because he refused to take part in bare-knuckle street fighting. Perhaps McGrath intends Southpaw as the first in a series of films - a sort of boxing equivalent to Michael Apted's Seven Up documentaries. In the meantime, we are left with a portrait of a courageous and articulate fighter who has already changed people's attitudes towards his community. Barrett, the commentators enthuse, is an all-action boxer who never stops coming forward. That same irrepressible enthusiasm he shows in the ring is what makes him such an engaging subject, and Southpaw such an easy film to warm to.
Credits
- Producers
- Robert Walpole
- Paddy Breathnach
- Director of Photography
- Cían De Buitléar
- Editor
- James E. Dalton
- Music
- Dario Marianelli
- ©Treasure Films
- Production Companies
- a Treasure Films production for Radio Telefis Éireann and Bord Scannán na hÉireann/The Irish Film Board and Channel 4
- A Hillside Productions production for Treasure Films Ireland
- Produced with the support of investment incentives for the Irish film industry provided by the Government of Ireland
- Executive Producers
- Radio Telefis Éireann:
- Clare Duignan
- Bord Scannán na hÉireann:
- Rod Stoneman
- Series Editor for Channel 4
- Peter Moore
- Line Producer
- Lesley McKimm
- Production Co-ordinator
- Emma Richardson
- Additional Photography
- Seamus Deasy
- Garry Keane
- David Scott
- On-line Editor
- Alan Sullivan
- Titles Design
- John Power
- Soundtrack
- "Tamba" by Jorge Ben, performed by Tamba Trio; "The First Time I Met the Blues" by Wes Montgomery, performed by Buddy Guy;
- "Birimbau" by J. Mella, C. Brita, performed by Dom Um; "Congratulations" by Bill Martin, Phil Coulter; "Enter the Tornado" by/performed by U.P. Wilson, P. Orta; "Round Midnight" by Cootie Williams, Thelonious Monk, performed by Eydie Gormé; "Traditional Polka"
- Sound
- Simon J. Willis
- Additional Sound Recordists
- Brendan Deasy
- Greg Bailey
- Dubbing
- Cecily Loughman
- Sound Editors
- Annette Stone
- Anthony Litton
- Gráinne D'Alton
- With
- Francis Barrett
- himself
- Chick Gillen
- coach
- Tom Humphries
- sports writer
- Colum Flynn
- Ennis Boxing Club
- Nicolas Cruz Hernandez
- Irish boxing coach, Barcelona olympics
- Gerry Callan
- sports writer
- Jim McGee
- sports commentator
- Luigi Leo
- Ken Thomas
- Eamonn Hunt
- narrator
- Certificate
- 15
- Distributor
- Downtown Pictures
- 7,187 feet
- 79 minutes 52 seconds
- In Colour
- onscreen title
- Francis Barrett Southpaw