Hands Of Stone

Of all sports, boxing makes the best movies. There's something about the way two men (or women) are pitted against each other in the ring that brings out cinematic grandeur. Some boxing films are fictional, like The Set-Up, Rocky, or Million Dollar Baby, while many others have tackled true stories, such as Raging Bull, Somebody Up There Likes Me, and The Fighter.

Hands Of Stone, from 2016, is in this latter category, as it tells the story of Roberto Duran, who for several years was one of the best fighters, pound for pound, in the world. This film flew under the radar, but I watched it the other day because I wanted to see more work by Ana de Armas, who was so good in Knives Out. She has the thankless role of Duran's long-suffering wife, but it's Duran and even more than that, his trainer, Ray Arcel, who are the key characters in the film.

Duran was a Panamanian street kid. He is managed by Ruben Blades, who brings Arcel (Robert De Niro) to him. Arcel, now in his twilight years, has trained some of the best fighters in the world. Duran, for many reasons, hates Americans, and turns him down at first, but then accepts him and their relationship is the spine of the film.

Hands Of Stone follows the usual pattern of sports movies: the rise, the pinnacle, the fall, and the redemption, but it is always entertaining along the way. Duran fought for many years but the film boils it down mostly to his fights with Sugar Ray Leonard. He beat Leonard, barely, to win the welterweight title, mostly by taunting Leonard into fighting against his style. Their second fight is the notorious "no mas" fight (Duran claims he never said those words) when he quit in the middle of the bout. It then ends with a comeback win against Davey Moore.

Edgar Ramirez plays Duran quite well, and gives us a glimpse into what motivates him: mostly anger. He is also a hero to his countrymen, and director Jonathan Jakubowicz always includes shots of the people watching the fights back at home. Many times these scenes, of loved ones watching sporting events, are tired cliches, but here it's important to remember that Duran was a national hero.

This film too me by surprise. Yes, it's cliched, but it hits all the right spots, is well acted (De Niro, who can be very bad these days, is excellent and it doesn't hurt that the recalls his own boxing film days from Raging Bull). A buried treasure.