Fight

Filmmaker Ervin Chartrand's punchy documentary short focuses on two at-risk Canadian First Nation teens in Winnipeg. Underperforming in class, Rene Catcheway and Melvin Delorme enroll in a remedial course in boxing, learning discipline under teacher-coach Randy Baleski. Although tardy and unmotivated insofar as schoolwork is concerned, Rene is smitten with the idea of boxing as an entree to his declared goal of becoming a mixed martial arts fighting champion. Meanwhile, Melvin's sparring in the ring exposes the depths of his personal trauma of childhood abuse. Given how differently each troubled young man reacts to putting on the gloves, it's a surprise which one of them seems to be pulling his life together by the end of this film, which does not quite follow the familiar Karate Kid template. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)