Boxers

Joanna Kohler's Boxers offers an up-close-and-personal introduction to a team of female amateur boxers, ranging in age from high school senior Dagney Willey to 34-year-old special education/teaching assistant Sarah Mickelson. Acting as director, producer, and editor, Kohler started filming eight months before the 2005 Ringside International Tournament, following the women, along with Minneapolis boxing gym manager and coach Lisa Bauch, and trainer Gina Campbell. To social worker/community activist Becca Gilgen, boxing is about self-esteem. As she somewhat mystically puts it, “If someone hits you in the face, you know yourself in that instant.” Her teammates include bartender/artist Rachel Schley and teacher Amy Laboe, who says of society's divided response to female pugilists, “Any time women get together and go against the mainstream, there are always people who have a problem with it.” Kohler interweaves interviews with the women and their partners together with footage of training sessions, a pre-tournament competition, and the main event itself, concluding with an update on each of the contenders. Along the way—on a journey that accompanies the fighters to Chicago, New York, and Kansas City—a personal tragedy takes one boxer out of the competition, while another suffers from a crisis of confidence, but all live to fight another day in this profile sure to appeal to fans of Million Dollar Baby. DVD extras include bonus interviews, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and a PSA advocating for the inclusion of women's boxing at the 2012 Olympics. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)