The Boxer is the story of two such people, Danny (Daniel Day- Lewis) and Maggie (Emily Watson). Danny and Maggie were sweethearts when they were in their teens, when Danny was a promising prize fighter. But Danny went to jail when he was 18 for his involvement in IRA activities. Before he left for prison, Danny broke up with Maggie so that her life wouldn't be ruined in his absence. Subsequently, she married Danny's best friend, but that boy went to jail as well, leaving Maggie to raise her son, Liam (Ciaran Fitzgerald), by herself. Now, at age 32, Danny finally has been released. He returns to his old Belfast neighborhood, determined to resurrect his boxing career. He yearns to reestablish his old relationship with Maggie, but he's prohibited from doing so by a protocol that demands wives of incarcerated IRA operatives to remain faithful.

Working with a script he co-wrote with Terry George, Sheridan strives to bring depth and complexity to this heartbreaking situation. Just as Thaddeus O'Sullivan did in last year's searching Nothing Personal, Sheridan implies that the roots of violence are lost in a murky past. Catholics and Protestants hate each other because they've been trained to. Few could name real issues between the two groups. What both sides remember are recent atrocities committed by the other. Bombings and murders are justification for a "legitimate" response. And the cycle never stops.

Danny sees this, though he's not nearly so optimistic as to think he can change it. Once, perhaps, a youthful believer in IRA propaganda -- a "revolutionary" thinking he could help reunite his country -- Danny now understands the IRA is an organization that thrives on its own hatred. During his time in prison, Danny has narrowed his focus, symbolically to the controllable size of a boxing ring. He wants to have a life. He wants nothing to do with the IRA, including any trouble that might result from his outwardly opposing them. Back in his old neighborhood, he begins to train under the tutelage of his old alcoholic coach, Ike (Peter Sheridan). With Ike, he opens a boxing gym in a dilapidated community center.

Watson and Day-Lewis are forbidden lovers in a violent world

Plenty enough of this works to make The Boxer worth seeing. There's a commendable effort to emphasize the humanity of all the players. To that end, even when a villain is killed, the filmmakers show the genuine bereavement of his wife, a new victim in a long line of victims. Throughout, with admirable deftness, Sheridan illustrates how difficult it will be to solve the problems. Danny isn't looking to be a leader, but he and Ike agree that the boxing center must be open to Protestant as well as Catholic boys. Many people disapprove, of course. And when the Protestant-dominated police force steps forward to provide the community center with badly needed equipment, people are resentful rather than grateful. Of course, it's plain that the police commissioner's motives are just political rather than altruistic. So trouble breaks out, and to show their disdain for police "charity," some of the young boxers, including Liam, decide to burn the new equipment. In the process, in a development reminiscent of the burning of Sal's pizza parlor in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, they manage to burn the entire gym. Such tragic self-destruction is born of attitudes among the IRA leadership. When Maggie's father, Joe (Brian Cox), tries to negotiate a cease fire, he's called "soft" and a "traitor to those of his brothers in prison" by firebrands like Harry (Gerard McSorely), the IRA "boss" of Danny's neighborhood. Clearly, it is not easy to chart a new path, to devise a method to bring the bloodshed to an end.

At points, though, The Boxer stumbles. Sheridan complicates things needlessly by making Liam jealous of his mother's chaste relationship with Danny. In fact, the filmmakers jettison this development about as clumsily as they introduce it. Elsewhere, we understand why Danny takes a professional boxing match in London but not why Ike is so offended by that move. In that match, it's not at all clear why the referee refuses to protect the Nigerian boxer Danny pummels to a standing knockout. And it seems outrageously unlikely that Danny would leave the ring and thus forfeit the match rather than risk hurting his opponent. He could, after all, punch the man in his arms if he didn't want to hit him in the head anymore.