Naman Shrestha
The Rachel Morrison directorial, ‘The Fire Inside,’ is a sports drama movie that centers upon the inspirational story of the Flint, Michigan, native boxer named Claressa “T-Rex” Shields. From an early age, she trains hard with a single dream in mind — becoming the first woman in America’s history to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing. With the much-needed support and push from her coach, Jason Crutchfield, she moves past all the limitations and creates history by fulfilling her lifelong dream.
However, despite all her achievements, Claressa comes to a heart-wrenching realization that her fight against discrimination is way bigger than any other fight in the boxing ring. Portraying Claressa “T-Rex” Shields is the talented Ryan Destiny, who is joined by other talented actors in supporting roles, including Brian Tyree Henry, Oluniké Adeliyi, De’Adre Aziza, Jazmin Headley, Idrissa Sanogo, and Adam Clark. The inspirational narrative is filled with several realistic situations, leading to many questions about the authenticity of the story in the minds of the viewers.
Claressa Shields Was Also a Part of the Production
Although ‘The Fire Inside’ is about a real-life boxer named Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, there are certain aspects of the sports drama film that don’t align with reality. However, the realest fragment of the Rachel Morrison directorial is the fact that it breaks out of the conventional sports movies, especially in the third act. This was one of the very reasons why the filmmaker chose the script, which was crafted by Barry Jenkins. She opened up about the same in the interview with Roger Ebert: “It’s scary to upend the movie in the third act, especially because the conventions of sports movies work for a reason. To not end at the top seemed daring and exciting, like real life. I do think that’s something that resonates.”
Claressa herself served as one of the executive producers of ‘The Fire Inside.’ Thus, the makers made sure that they included her in the process and asked for her blessing when it came to the sensitive moments. According to the director, the boxer wondered if anybody wanted to watch a sports movie where she destroyed everybody at the Olympics. This was one of the few questions that she had in her mind during the production process. Rachel explained to her that they were planning to build up the narrative to make things more exciting. Another realistic aspect of the film is that it portrays the physical and emotional toll her career has taken on her.
Apart from showcasing her hard work and intense training several weeks prior to the matches, the film doesn’t shy away from giving us a vulnerable portrayal of the boxer as she also has moments of self-doubt. ‘The Fire Inside’ also tries to be as authentic as possible when it comes to the complicated relationship between Claressa and her mother during the former’s teenage years. The romantic front of Claressa Shields is also depicted in alignment with reality. Just as portrayed in the film, the boxer had developed feelings for her boxing training partner. Sooner rather than later, they began dating as he was her first boyfriend.
The Fire Inside Consists of True to Life As Well As Fictional Elements
When Claressa Shields was in Flint, Michigan, around late 2012, she was shopping for diapers at a supermarket when she saw four American Olympic gold medalists other than her on the cover of cereal boxes and got her heart broken. She also spotted other gold medalists of the Olympic Games on the cover of Essence magazine’s 2012 Women of the Year issue. A scene involving Claressa’s character in the movie depicted something similar, furthering the connection of ‘The Fire Inside’ with reality.
The boxer opened up about how she felt during an interview with Time Magazine. She said, “It was very hurtful. It wasn’t anger, it was just a sadness that I had, thinking that my gold medal didn’t weigh as much as theirs. Knowing that my sport is the hardest sport in the world to do, but it’s not respected by everybody else. I was still happy for the other girls. But I wish I could have been in that picture with them.” As mentioned above, the sports film deviates from factual events in quite a few instances, which is why ‘The Fire Inside’ is loosely based on true events.
While the film portrays the character of Claressa as someone whose main ambition was to win gold at the 2012 London Olympic Games, the reality differed quite a bit. The boxer had explained in an interview that she was in two minds about coming in first and securing the gold medal for her country. In the movie, she is seen going to a pawn shop to sell her gold medal. However, T-Rex straight away refused doing any such thing, but she admitted to locking away her medal in a safe for a long period of time. She elaborated, “You win a gold medal at the age of 17, and you didn’t get what you deserve. I kind of wanted to leave that behind me and keep moving forward.” In light of the fact that the movie contains real-life as well as fictional instances, it would be safe to say that ‘The Fire Inside’ is not totally based on true events.
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