I’ll start with a full disclosure – until about four years ago, before I met my husband, the holy trinity of Rocky-Rambo-Creed sounded to me like a collective generic name for strength and boxing movies with a lot of blood, sweat, tears and not a little ego.
In fact, I thought that was the bulk of the movies – to see the fights of boxers, and that apart from subduing the opponent, there’s really nothing here. How glad I was that I was deceived. When I talked to my friends, I found that their opinion was similar to mine – they also thought it was a brawl in the battle arena with not bad squares in the stomach and beads of sweat flying everywhere. Rocky in my eyes is a way of life. Creed 3 is already giving an orderly turn to the entire glorious line of films before it.
The synopsis of the film sounds simplistic. Two childhood friends, Adonis Creed and Damien Anderson meet again after eighteen years. Anderson was released from prison, and during this time Creed enjoyed fame, publicity and wealth following the illustrious career he had built. Anderson is just waiting to be released from prison so he can meet Creed in the boxing ring.
Sylvester Stallone was missing from the film. However, two strong feelings accompanied me from the beginning: first of all, you feel Stallone in Creed: the sensitivity, the caring, the ability to see the other, even if at the beginning it is seemingly not felt until the end. A second feeling is fear. From the moment the camera meets Damian I was gripped by fear. It’s clear that something bad is going to happen. Even in the initial meeting with Creed after many years, also when Damian enters the house and meets Bianca, Creed’s wife, and in general there is a heavy cloud, an ancient demon, that should erupt at any moment. A strong feeling of jealousy.
Damian both in his body language and in short but very focused sentences conveys the message: “Hey man, you stole my life. This is actually the life that was supposed to be mine.” At a certain point when Damien looks at Bianca and Amara, their home – there is a feeling as if he is going to jump on them and take them into his arms. After all, it is “his”. And actually where is the line between what was supposed to be ours in dreams and fantasies and what is really ours?
During the plot we also find out about Creed and Bianca’s relationship. On the face of it, a good relationship, everyone fulfills themselves and their dreams, there is financial abundance. Even Beitam the deaf is portrayed as a heroine, everything is small for her, because that is what she absorbed in the house from the first second. Actually, who can her? The whole story unfolds through their moving home in Bat-Hasheva. Amara does not know how to deal with emotions and fights in class to show that she will not be messed with and in fact she is soft and full of heart and caring, who does not know how to express what she feels in words, just like Creed. The film proves that in life as in life – the best lie is the truth. The things that Creed is hiding from his wife about his past explode in full force, because they just have to get out.
During and after watching the movie you ask yourself questions. And perhaps this is one of the reasons that the film can actually speak to anyone, regardless of age or gender. The questions that arise one after the other – what is a real friendship, does it survive for years. Does jealousy, which is a trait leading the human race, also exist in competitive men and in what way. One of the significant things that resonates is that you cannot escape the past, no matter what. He is with you and will get you. In dark corners and bright days. It’s a part of you.
One of the messages that resonates the most is to never underestimate the person in front of you. Not in the battle arena nor in the everyday arena. Even the person who appears to be the most underdog, who has no chance, can rise from the underworld and make a school for everyone around and leave them speechless. There is a tangent here for Rocky 1 in this matter. An unknown underdog boxer gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to face a world champion.
This is the first film that Michael B. Jordan (Creed) was his director and without a doubt you feel him, as in the arena itself Stallone is everywhere. with the smart silence. with the internalized insights. with the smile that did not pass away.
This is a film that will accompany you for a few days. This is a film that will make you think about your own life and above all it is a film that everyone should see. This is not only the psychology of sports. This is a film about values and morals and basically some mirror images of all of us. All the time.