Full Review

However, while the film packs quite a punch, including heavyweight performances from Eastwood, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman, and a textured screenplay by Paul Haggis (adapted from a short story by Irish Catholic author F.X. Toole), the movie's morally problematic ending may leave many Catholic viewers feeling emotionally against the ropes.

"Million Dollar Baby" centers on former "cut man" Frankie Dunn (played with grizzled grace by Eastwood), an ornery, old-school trainer and manager who, in between reading Yeats and bouts of spiritual sparring with his parish priest (Brian O'Byrne), runs a low-rent boxing gym. Haunted by past sins, which -- for reasons left unspoken -- caused him to become estranged from his grown daughter, Dunn finds salvation in molding a scrappy but determined female boxer, Maggie (an equally superb Swank), into a contender, only to have his efforts implode in tragedy.

Early rounds unfold in a rather formulaic Rockyesque fashion. Maggie blows into Dunn's fleabag den with loads of heart and raw talent, but paltry pugilistic skills. Dunn barks that boxing gyms are no place for "girlies" and refuses to train her. Undeterred, she pounds away on the heavy bags alone, supplementing her solo sessions with scraps of after-hours advice from -- appropriately enough -- Scrap (Freeman), an ex-fighter turned resident gym sage, whose longtime friendship with Dunn is also tinged with tragedy.

When Dunn's current champ-in-progress jumps ship and signs with another manager, Dunn begrudgingly agrees to take Maggie on as his next -- and perhaps last -- chance at professional and personal redemption.

But the story takes a disturbingly downbeat turn in the later rounds, becoming a somber meditation on assisted suicide.

With a directorial resume that includes such pictures as the grim Western, "Unforgiven," and the equally bleak Eastern, "Mystic River," set in a working-class Boston neighborhood, Eastwood is no stranger to dark stories wrought with complex moral questions -- and this one ends on a fatalistic note.

At the heart of the story is the relationship between Dunn and Maggie. Maggie views herself as "trash" and sees in Dunn the validation she so desperately craves and is denied by her own mother. Dunn, a practicing Catholic who attends Mass daily, is, likewise, damaged goods; he needs Maggie as much as she needs him.

The movie is full of gladiatorial gore which those not favorably inclined toward blood-sports may find off-putting. However, it would be wrong to think of "Million Dollar Baby" as just another fight film. In truth, it is not as much about boxing as it is about moral wrestling within the arena of the human soul.

As for the theme of euthanasia, the film is not a polemic in favor of assisted suicide. The pain and devastation of those involved is achingly evident. However, in spite of all the soul-searching that precedes it, the deed itself is presented as an act of reluctant heroism. And given the dire circumstances, our sympathies and humane inclinations may argue in favor of such misguided compassion, but our Catholic faith prohibits us from getting around the fact that, in this case, the best-intended ends cannot justify the chosen means: the taking of a life.

Because of a guilt-wracked, but ultimately permissive, depiction of euthanasia, much bloody boxing violence, some rough and crude language and profanity, the USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents are strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

• A-I -- general patronage;
• A-II -- adults and adolescents;
• A-III -- adults;
• A-IV**
• L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
• O -- morally offensive.