Claressa Shields displays the grit and determination to become a champion in T-REX
T-REX (Drea Cooper & Zackary Canepari, 2015)
Made in NY Media Center by IFP
30 John St., Brooklyn
June 24-30
718-729-6677
t-rexthefilm.com
nymediacenter.com
Drea Cooper and Zackary Canepari’s debut feature documentary, T-Rex, is an exciting, dare we say hard-hitting look at a teenager attempting to literally fight her way out of depressed and troubled Flint, Michigan. When she was eleven years old, Claressa Shields walked into FWC Berston Gym and immediately showed the kind of skill, desire, and drive that made former professional boxer Jason Crutchfield take her under his wing as coach and mentor, thinking she had enormous potential. “A coach always wants a champion,” he says in the film. “Believe me. That’s why we coach. I just never thought it was going to be a girl.” Claressa trains every day, her sights set on becoming the first woman — actually, she’ll be a mere seventeen years old — to win a gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics, which has added the sport of women’s boxing to its wide-ranging roster of competitive sports. It’s not only a personal quest but a way to help get her poor, undereducated, broken family out of Flint. Her parents are divorced and each has a new partner, her father spent seven years in prison, and her tough-talking younger sister dreams of having ten babies. Allowing Cooper and Canepari full access, Claressa shows herself to be an exceptional boxer as well as a smart, intelligent person with a strong grasp of reality. She also has the confidence and swagger of Muhammad Ali; in fact, the relationship between the Greatest and his daughter, former world champion Laila Ali, serves as a major inspiration to her in her gritty, determined quest.
Claressa “T-Rex” Shields fights for a better life against seemingly insurmountable odds in documentary about the Flint boxer
Claressa doesn’t just want to win; she wants to dominate. As the film opens, Claressa is sad and downtrodden at the Olympic trials, surrounded by a handful of media. It turns out that she had just won her bout, but she was disappointed that she hadn’t won by more. Cooper and Canepari wisely let Claressa, her family, and her coach tell her story, dispensing with the usual talking heads providing social or sports-related commentary on her compelling journey from Flint to China to London and, perhaps, beyond. It’s especially poignant when Crutchfield and Claressa start looking into possible endorsement deals, but corporations are not exactly seeking out a poor black teenage girl boxer from Flint to be their next spokesperson. A festival favorite, T-Rex is opening June 24 at Brooklyn’s Made in NY Media Center by IFP. The film ends shortly after the 2012 Olympics, with Claressa deciding whether to continue with boxing; you can find out where she is today by watching the recent ESPN E60 profile of her here.