The Cage Fighter

The Cage Fighter is the story of a man in the fight of his life. Joe Carman (40) is a blue-collar Washington State boilermaker and master plumber, a loving father and husband. Unable to cope with stresses at home, reeling from his wife’s recent illness and an ongoing custody battle, Joe escapes back into the fighting cage — the one place he’d promised never to set foot again. By trading his inner pain for physical blows, Joe struggles to heal himself and come to terms with his past. In the fighting cage, life’s problems are as simple as they are acute; but there, unlike in the real world, an old fighter can at least go down swinging. Over the course of three years, events are captured through observational footage thanks to unprecedented access to Joe and his family. The film will end with Joe’s last fight — in the cage, in the courtroom and within himself.