Winning doesn’t always bring about happiness and success. So the tale of gold winning boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields teaches us, in a new film written by Barry Jenkins and directed by Rachel Morrison, coming to UK cinemas on February 7th.
If you search for Claressa "T-Rex" Shields on Google, on any given day you’ll find her victorious and at the top of her game once again. Today, as I sit down to write up the review of The Fire Inside, the film about her early life, Olympic triumphs and professional trials, I find headlines that point to Shields having “crumpled” Danielle Perkins in the ring. In a fight, this past Sunday night, which gave Shields the IBF, WBO, WBA, WBC, and WBF World Heavyweight titles. On top of her being a two-time gold medal winner in the women’s middleweight division, that is of course, at both the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio Games.
In The Fire Inside, a new film directed by Rachel Morrison and written by Barry Jenkins, Shields finally gets the recognition she deserves. Now, how is that, you must be wondering? I mean, she’s won so much, so she cannot possibly need more validation. Wrong, I’ll answer, as only a woman can. As a powerful female, excellent athlete and unapologetic Black woman, the world has always tried to put Shields in a corner. “It’s the way of the world, the Olympics isn’t just boxing,” someone tells her early on in the film, meaning she must also be commercially appealing, and perhaps most importantly humble to win the coveted endorsements which make an athlete’s life sustainable.
Guess, what. She doesn’t — play that game, act demure or get the endorsements. And that’s not a spoiler here, as most who have followed her career as a boxer know. Even as I was walking out of the London press screening of the film, two young Black women journalists were complaining about Shields’ involvement with hip-hop artist Papoose. A girl can’t win, not in a man’s world and not with her fellow women.
Directed by Morrison — who is the first woman ever to have been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography — and written by the phenomenal Jenkins of Moonlight Oscar fame, The Fire Inside deals with the toxic results of a world which sees women in a particular way and doesn’t allow us to rise above that. If you’re vulnerable, frail, a victim of circumstances and acting that way, you’ll fit right in. But if you dare to present a strong, put together and self assured front, you’re bound to run into difficulties.
And Shields certainly has.
The film kicks off in Flint, Michigan, rendered infamous by the public health emergency of 2014-2019 when lead contamination was found in its water but before those times. There, a teenage Claressa Shields (played phenomenally by singer and songwriter Ryan Destiny) sneaks into a mens boxing gym and tries to train with the boys. The coach at the gym Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry in another fantastic performance for the Emmy winning, Academy nominated actor) tries to shoo the little girl away, but to no avail and finally, begrudgingly agrees to train her. The shy, non-talkative Shields famously turns into a force of nature and in 2012 makes the Olympics trials for the London Games. While in London, she ends up winning the only boxing Gold medal for the United States that year and yet, unlike swimmer Michael Phelps — who went on to gain endorsement deals with Omega, Subway, Visa, Speedo, Wheaties, and Power Bar, among many more — Shields returns home empty handed. The next four years, it’s crickets from the sponsors too.
The Fire Inside examines all the forces at play when an athlete like Shields, an unapologetic, fierce woman of color, wins in the game and yet is still pushed to concede in life. Even if, as my grandfather would have said, life isn’t about winning a battle, but about securing the war. And Shields has certainly proved her worth on the battlefield of life. While she has finally secured endorsement deals with Powerade Audi and Swimsuits for All, between those and her fight purses she still earns around $1 million a year. Compare that with the $95 million Roger Federer earned in 2022 and Michael Phelps’ $100 million net worth. Then tell me life is fair.
Women are underpaid in all professions, it seems. We fight harder, work harder and earn less. And perhaps the film also offers an insight into the reason that is. Women, we just don’t help other women. It’s as simple as that.
In the film, from the publicist of the American Boxing Association, to Shields’ own substance-abusing mom (played perfectly by Flashpoint’s Oluniké Adeliyi) women are simply not helping in the young boxer’s struggle. In fact, they deny and denigrate where they should be celebrating one of their own in her victory and resolve.
It’s an interesting experiment The Fire Inside, also in the way a studio has chosen to market the film, releasing it in theaters in the US at the same time as Nosferatu, Babygirl and A Complete Unknown. But also never marketing the film’s creatives and stars for awards campaigns which they all deserve, from behind the scenes to those in front of the camera. But what do I know, right? I’m just a little woman, with a big mouth. I often like to say, if I had been born with a p***s I would have a Pulitzer by now.
Personally, I would also like to give Jenkins a special award, for having written a script which is so simply heartwarming and empowering, for anyone watching The Fire Inside with a beating heart, that is. And for having stepped aside himself as far as directing the film, allowing the woman-power of Morrison’s choices to come through and make The Fire Inside a complete masterpiece.
Oh, and not to be forgotten, the soundtrack was composed by Tamar-kali, another phenomenal Black American woman.
The Fire Inside is in UK theaters from February 7th, 2025. The film is an Amazon MGM Studios release.
All images courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios, used with permission.