‘Katie’ Netflix Review - Defying the Odds

Katie Taylor, a name boxing fans have heard of, always comes back with a bang despite falling back a hundred steps. This documentary is about her achievements and her ongoing boxing career. Coming from Ireland, a place where women's boxing wasn't encouraged, her story is filled with resilience. Her fans from her home country still know her, and her story is for everyone to know and learn from. Such athletes come once in a while and teach you a lot of things. Her career isn't any short of an inspiration and this documentary tries its best to capture the same.

The world that we see today wasn't always like this. It took many efforts to shape it this way and the same goes for women wrestling. Katie Taylor, the icon and the legend, started boxing at a time when Ireland didn't allow girls to participate. By hiding her identity and disguising herself as a boy, she participated in various matches. It was after a much later time that the Irish boxer could box without risking people identifying her gender. If one looks closely at Katie’s journey, it was synonymous with how professional boxing or even the Olympics opened up for women. When she wanted to win a gold in the Olympics, women's boxing wasn't a thing as the authorities felt that it could threaten the men's boxing event. Katie proved them wrong and hence women's boxing was introduced. Her biological father was her coach and having him in her corner filled her with confidence. When the family fell apart, so did her game and it took some time for her to regain her momentum. After winning a gold in the London Olympics, things went south and Katie wasn't herself anymore.

To me, Katie opening up about her struggles like her father's divorce, felt personal. It takes courage for one to open up about such matters and Katie showed enormous strength by opening up about this topic. It takes effort to pinpoint one's mistake after failure and Katie wasn't the shy one. Even at the professional boxing championship, despite the odds being against her, she knew how to turn the tides. I'm not particularly a fan of this documentary because I didn't like the narration. There have been documentaries that have excelled at portraying the lives of the person in focus. This one is a bit dull and the scope for improvement can be seen. It's not a golden rule that all documentaries are boring, the golden rule is creating intrigue. Katie doesn't match the aura Katie showed Taylor had and failed at various levels.

This 90-minute documentary has a lot to tell, starting from her childhood and continuing to the current titles Katie holds. The takeaway message from Taylor is her relentless efforts and never-ending urge to stop. She always wants to go to the next level despite achieving it all and it's the same outlook one should have towards their lives. Also, Katie tells us how one's journey can't always be a climbing graph, there are moments when you fall back and have to work all over again to reach the top but this doesn't mean that you stop believing in yourself.

Final Score – [5/10]
Reviewed by - Riya Singh
Follow @_riyasinghhh_ on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times