Robert De Niro Edgar Ramirez Ana de Armas Ellen Baskin John Turturro
Ruben Blades Usher Oscar Jaenada Reg E. Cathey
Roberto Duran (Ramirez) grew up in Panama, a
street kid, who learned early on how to hustle, coached by a neighborhood “Pied
Piper” who gathered up the kids and taught them how to survive by hook or by
crook. Duran’s father had long
left his mother, and this man, Chaflan (Jaenada), served as his first father
figure. The second was Carlos (Blades),
whom Duran at an early age kept bugging to train him to be a fighter, and when
Carlos actually saw his drive and determinism in an underground fight, he
agreed. The third—who served as
devoted mentor as well—was Ray Arcel (De Niro), who was approached by Carlos to
pick up Duran’s training because he recognized that the famed trainer would
make Duran a champion prizefighter.
Both Carlos and Ray sustained their involvement in Duran’s career for
years despite major setbacks. This
could be the underlying substance of this biopic—the search for a missing
father and how that served to fuel a man’s aggression and then channel it into
something useful.
Another influence was Panamanian politics, that
country’s efforts to regain their sovereignty after the U.S. “bought them” with
a canal. Duran was a perceptive
child when the protests first began, and when he witnessed the killing of a
Panamanian trying to raise Panama’s flag at the Panama Canal and the Panamanians’
perception that the U.S. had reneged on a deal, the U.S. was identified as the
father who abandoned him in infancy.
Ray Arcel was reluctant to take on Duran—he had
been punished by the boxing powers that be at the time—but partly because he
saw the potential and partly because he just wasn’t ready to retire, he began a
relationship with Duran that affected both of them emotionally and changed
their lives. Duran soon became the
boxer with manos de piedras (hands of stone).
After Duran does become a sensation, he makes
some mistakes that almost cost him his titles and reputation. The film chronicles these with good
pace and timing (the director is Jonathan Jakubowicz), allowing us to see the
evolving relationships not only between the fighter and his trainers, but also
his wife (de Armas) and Sugar Ray Leonard (Usher). The film touches on the corruption in boxing that uses
fighters as commodities (Turturro’s cameo appearances are appropriately subtle
and commanding) and how international events can encroach upon people’s lives.
Cinematography by Miguel Ioann Littin Menz is
remarkable, particularly during the boxing matches. Like a ballet dancer, the camera soars, pauses, and has
explosions of color and action, capturing the viewer’s attention with its sheer
beauty.
De Niro remains a force in the movie business,
and Hands of Stone is his film in a
way, although Ramirez more than holds his own in portraying a deeply conflicted
man who had to evolve from a scrappy street kid to head of a prosperous
household, all while managing the temptations and seduction of fame. Ramirez capably shows the multi-facets
of this personality. Ana de Armas
captures our interest as well in her excellent portrayal of a wife needing to
adapt to as well as influence her tempestuous husband. A delightful addition to this cast is
Usher, who plays the patient, charming, and ultimately very insightful Sugar
Ray Leonard, a gentleman in the best sense of the word.
Under the guidance of father figures, a
tempestuous boxer acquires hands of stone.
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