Sundance 2011 Review: KNUCKLE
Anyone intrigued by UFC fights will be interested in Knuckle, a bare-knuckle boxing documentary that follows an epic feud between families and captures footage for over ten years. Directed and produced by Ian Palmer, the film stays mostly with the Quinn McDonagh family and, as literally years pass by, tries to get to the heart of the feud between these two clans.
Most of the film is home video footage (shot by Palmer) of street fights as these families (most of the time cousins or other blood relatives) beat the crap out of each other for reasons unknown to many of them. Each generation grows into fighters ready and willing to battle the other side for family pride and honor, with the victors making VHS video tapes taunting the losing side and ensuring the feud continues for years to come. After the fights, the family gathers to watch the tape and drink at the local pub; it's not just the men watching, either - though the women are portrayed as being above all the violence and not condoning it as much, they can't hide from the camera as they scream their support and get as riled as the rest of them at the outcome of a brawl.
The events in this movie are so ludicrous that they almost don't seem real, but there's something so visceral about this type of violence; it's clear this isn't a stunt. It's fascinating that a segment of the population (small as it may be) lives like this, fighting over things some say go back over fifty years. There's some real Capulet/Montague stuff going down here, and as the movie progresses, we slowly discover part of the reasoning behind the bad blood. The true, real genesis of the hatred - if the memory of it even exists all these years later - is told differently by different people throughout the film, almost like the origins of The Joker's scars in The Dark Knight.
The film may sound kind of awesome - and it kind of is - but it's also incredibly sad. Grandfathers sixty years old and older are still fighting in the streets to defend family honor, and though the women warn their kids against joining the ranks as they grow older, the ever-present camera actually catches kids mimicking fights and clearly preparing for what is to come. The battle seemingly never ends, and though the murky origins are touched upon, the end is nowhere in sight for the members of these clans.