This is not a movie about boxing.

This is not a movie with computerized special effects. This movie has no explosions, sex, drugs, dead bodies or anything else you’ll see on the evening news.

This is simply, the best movie of the year. It’s a beautiful story about love, trust, and courage and family. It’s a story about coming from nothing and convincing people to take a chance on a nobody. It is all of these things and more.

Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood deserve Oscars for their performances. Swank’s performance as Maggie, a waitress coming from nothing but in possession of fierce determination, is arguably the best role of her career. Maggie wants to be a boxer and she wants Frankie to train her. Frankie doesn’t want to take a chance on her because she’s a girl. Scrap, Frankie’s gym manager and friend, eventually convinces Frankie to train Maggie.

For a movie that was shot in only 39 days, the film never rushes through a scene, with the natural pace of the film, the viewer becomes closer to the characters and grows to really care about them. If you only see one Oscar movie this year, make sure it’s this one.