I was expecting the racial aspect of the story to be handled like the proverbial "blunt object"

Rating: 8/10 (7 May 2013)

Last night I saw "42", the new bio-pic about the great Dodger ball player Jackie Robinson, who was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era.
Usually I don't like sports films because the actors are always not really athletes and their athletic shortcomings distract me from enjoying the film. Not so in "42"! I grew up in the NYC area in the 40's and 50's. Phil Rizzuto lived about 3 blocks away. I met quite a few of the Dodgers and Yankees as a kid. Every detail of this film was perfect. From the way Jackie used to grip and re-grip the bat while waiting for a pitch to the sets to well, everything.
Before watching the film I was expecting the racial aspect of the story to be handled like the proverbial "blunt object" and thus reducing a great Seminole time in my life into a cartoon-like morality play without any shades of gray, just good and bad. Not so "42"! The ugly bigots were exquisitely portrayed in all their pathetic glory but the film was about Jackie and it was genius. It was the best portrayal of those wonderful beginnings of the first steps toward an enlightenment I welcomed as a kid and am still waiting to come to fruition. It was a great first step in pro-sports and this film did it the justice it so richly deserves.