Boxer Plot Summary
An opening involving Jedrzej’s father, Edwin, throwing a boxing fight sets the scene for the drama to follow. Edwin hangs up his boxing gloves, and dedicates his life to his family. The only trouble is, his son has a taste for boxing and that passion doesn’t look to die down anytime soon. Unfortunately, Jedrzej’s desire to get in the squared ring outweighs his desire to get a job and raise a family, which is a theme grappled with across the 2 and a half hour run-time.
As Jedrzej is taken under his uncle’s wing, he gets a taste of the good life and seizing his opportunity, runs away with girlfriend Kasia. From here, the story depicts Jedrzej’s struggles to make a name for himself, claw up the rankings, and grapples with a shocking revelation involving Kasia, and another involving sleazy boxing promoter, Jackie.
When does Jedrzej’s life change?
Midway through the film, Jedrzej decides not to throw a fight for a quick payday and wins. This angers the big boss Nicky, although Jedrzej believes he’s the real deal and can make him a lot of money. Nicky agrees and has him sign a cotnract. Kasia is against this, knowing that dealing with gangsters is bad news. Jedrzej is starved for success and unfortunately bites into the forbidden fruit – in more ways than one.
Jedrzej has to let Czesiek go as his trainer, and as the years go by, he grows resentful of what his uncle represents – and how he reminds him of Poland. Not only that, but Jedrzej’s self-destruction sees him lose Kasia, his daughter, and he cheats on Kasia with a journalist called Eva. Unfortunately, she leads him down a dark path, as Jedrzej skips training, does drugs and flies off the deep end.
What deal has Nicky made?
When Nicky finds out from the trainer that Jedrzej hasn’t been in to train, he’s not happy. He speaks to the naive Pole in confidence in his office. Nicky has him over a barrel. Along with owing 500k for not throwing the fight, he also owes another 252k for staying at the fancy villa. Despite winning matches and getting beaten up for 3 years, he’s actually in a worse position than he was when he first started. He owes about 400k in total.
Jedrzej is shocked and eventually agrees to win the championship and then leave once he’s paid up his debt.
What is the turning point for Jedrzej?
All of these struggles are compounded after Jedrzej has a big row with Czesiek. When he goes to see his uncle, he finds that he’s hung himself in the bathroom. His death brings Kasia and Jedrzej together again, at least momentarily. Jedrjez breaks things off with Eva but it’s too late for him and Kasia. She serves him divorce papers that night and leaves the country.
Jedrzej wins his championship match, beating Barber to a pulp but it’s irrelevant at this point. Boxing fades away as Jedrzej realizes he’s lost sight of what really matters in this world. He’s lost his family and his daughter, all in the pursuit of greatness. After signing a deal with the devil, he realizes this isn’t what he really wants.
When does Jedrzej return home?
After all this, one of the Olympians, Wladek, shows up at the gym to see Jedrzej. Now, Kasia dealt with him as a nurse when she smuggled herself on the ride over to the UK. She lied to him about his eyes and liver problem but in reality, he actually was ill. He’s been diagnosed with cancer and she’s helped bring that to light.
He thanks Jedrjez for him and Kasia saving his life, and hands over his passport back home. He also has a surveillance tape recorded long ago at Czesiek’s gym, asking to throw the fight. Within this, Edwin decided his family was more important. And this is something Jedrzej now reckons with.
How does Boxer end?
Jedrzej returns to Poland and buys back Czesiek’s gym, using the surveillance tape as blackmail material against the men who now own it. Jedrzej decides he’s going to make amends and do right, and he’s returned to Poland a changed man. A more humble man. Kasia and Jedrzej aren’t together anymore, but she does have more respect for him as she leaves him with their daughter.
As for Jedrzej, he sees a lot of himself in his daughter and speaks to her plainly about boxing. In fact, he decides that maybe they should get out of this and find a different employment for her. He’s going to try and do right by her, and step into his father’s shoes. In the end, Jedrzej realizes that family comes first, and this self-destructive behaviour is not doing anyone any favours.
Read More: Boxer Movie Review