Fighter

Summary

Documentary on mixed martial arts and the so-called "cage fighting" in which two men face-off in a cage beating each other up – seemingly with little to no rules. The film foregrounds some of the fighters who, when not actively engaged in the ring, do not match the cliché of a "beater": They come across as charming and intelligent, and their behavior towards other fighters is determined by care and respect. The film tries to find out what drives these men when they get beaten bloody in front of an audience while they are barely able to make a living off the pay and frowned upon as sportsmen by society. At the same time, the film wants to demonstrate both the spiritual and the sociopolitical component of the fights. First, it seems that "cage fights" provide for extreme emotional and transgressive experience for those involved, and second it is striking that the fighters almost exclusively hail from lower class backgrounds and that the sport is tied mostly to migrant communities.