Here is my entry for the Triple AAA contest --> FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION (#01): "Favorite Directors" You guys should check it out and participate.

Director of week #2: Gavin O'Connor.

To be able to transform a boxing film into something dramatic and above all emotional is not easy, as it requires a lot of tact when developing the whole story so that the sensitive and dramatic elements are not forced, however in Warrior the director Gavin O'Connor managed to do it in a spectacular way combining the story of two brothers who end up meeting in the most unexpected way and in the most unexpected place.

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Warrior is a film that transports us to the center of a family encounter in the worst way, a reunion between brothers almost forced and built around a very intense atmosphere of pain where both are damaged and have a lot of things from the past that retains them and causes them some discomfort with the other. The plot of this film is told almost separately to some extent where everything in the plot collides and manages to develop into something fantastic. On the one hand we have Brendan Conlon a professor with tons of economic problems that constantly put his life and that of his family on their heads, a professor who will be forced to participate in clandestine fights in order to collect some money and lower the economic burden that hits him hard; and on the other hand we have Tom Conlon a retired ex-marine who has just returned from his detachment and decides to dive into the whole world of mixed martial arts to help the wife of an ex-soldier who died recently. Basically we have two men, two brothers who for similar reasons decide to enter the world of mixed martial arts struggles to earn money and solve the myriad of problems that plague them.

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Two similar stories that collide when they both enter the same martial arts tournament; what is interesting here is the way both brothers meet again, Tommy asks his father for help, a former alcoholic who caused a lot of damage in his childhood and who traumatized him emotionally, while Brendan starts from below with the help of a friend. In any case and through much work both men manage to enter the tournament only to face a storm of emotions and moments extremely exciting and emotional where we see all kinds of recriminations and shared guilt that take them back from being what they were before, brothers.

The rhythm that Gavin O'Connor manages to create is tremendous because the film develops quickly to reach a climax of fight and uncontrolled struggle where we see something more intense than a simple battle for money, Gavin O'Connor manages to capture through wide and close-up shots the emotion and strength of two men who at times hate each other but deeply love each other because they are brothers, we constantly see the exchange of tensions created around a family drama that goes far beyond anything we've ever seen, here we see two brothers struggling with their past to build a future, two different men but struggling for the same things.

It's despite being a dramatic boxing movie it's not a superficial movie or made in a simple way, the fights are great choreographed in a fabulous way to show the realism and intensity of mixed martial arts fights. Just like the fights the "normal" scenes where we only see conversations and discussions are also splendidly made to elevate the tension and drama in the story. The whole development of the film leads us little by little to that final confrontation between two brothers determined not to surrender and to give everything for what they defend, two brothers who do not shrink and who face each other in the ring as two enemies in a frantic manner and seeking to win at all times. Basically everything in this film is meticulously made to stand out and above all to let us be absorbed by an intense atmosphere comparable to any high budget super drama where we are told complex stories.

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This is for me Gavin O'Connor's best film because he manages to highlight the plot through characters that perfectly reflect the pain, anger and sadness that a traumatic childhood that has changed them, but above all separated them and made them put one against the other.

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