Director: Billy Corben
Dawg Fight provides a look at a Florida suburb where most of the people are unemployed. A street fight ring brings the community together and gives young men something to focus on. But it’s also unregulated and illegal.
The documentary presents a narrow line between success and failure. A few of the men in the film do fall victim to violent crimes, and the organizers make it clear that the ring should be a way for people to hash out their disagreements without resulting to a killing on the streets. It’s almost like looking into another world as these men try to find some sort of honor and glory in their lives.
It’s clear though that these men are amateurs, although some of them hope to use it as a training ground to boost them up to the big leagues. We only see one person get his shot though, Dada 5000, who is the actual organiser of the street ring, although the last part of the film does come across as a big slice of self-promotion for the man. But all in all I found it an interesting documentary, it’s just a little sad that these men are probably only fighting for the sake of fighting because big breaks are few and far between, and without a proper training structure they most likely won’t be able to move beyond swinging wildly.
