million dollar spoiler

thanks to an editorial cartoon i saw the other day, i already know the conclusion to the film million dollar baby without having seen it. the director, clint eastwood, has been criticized for taking a controversial moral stance, whereas he absolves himself by pointing out that he merely follows the plot of the short story by writer f.x. toole on which the film is based. a compromise could have left the conclusion open-ended, with a character agonizing over a moral quandary, but perhaps that would have been an artistic copout. in any event, changing the ending to a happy, noncontroversial one would have diminished the film. note that i have studiously avoided directly mentioning what the controversy is about, lest i give away the ending to someone still thinking of seeing it.

i'm unsure myself whether i will see it. it's been many years since i was addicted to watching sports on tv, and when i first cut back on my viewing i started with boxing, because i found it morally problematic. that shouldn't keep me from watching a fictional representation, but it does make me look toward alternative films.