A knockout view of Oxbridge - News - Evening Standard
       

A knockout view of Oxbridge

You would think that watching students from Oxford and Cambridge punch each other silly might be a popular attraction.

But on Wednesday a preview at the Barbican of the amateur-boxing documentary Blue Blood, which shows just that, was sparsely attended. A pity: it's a touching and involving film.

We follow five Oxford hopefuls as they prepare to meet their rivals in the ring. They are then slaughtered by their more expert opponents in bouts that reveal fear and aggression far more rawly than any professional fight.

Though it's bloody, this is a remarkably tender piece of moviemaking, about a subject little rated these days: masculinity, finding the courage to stand your ground, win or lose. In its own way, then, despite the elite setting, pretty radical stuff..

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