A Phenomenal Film About a Phenomenal Man

Rating: 9/10 (19 December 2013)

It would be easy to be cynical about a movie like "42," but the best thing about this biopic of Jackie Robinson is that it's not ashamed to embrace its own squareness. Indeed, it celebrates it, rendering cynicism a not very viable reaction to it or the people who made it.
The movie fits comfortably in the tradition of consciousness-raising social dramas that are often derided by critics as "Oscar-bait." Garnering awards may have been the intention of those who made "42" and it may not have been, but it really doesn't matter because the movie knows exactly what it's doing - and does it beautifully.
Robinson was, of course, the Negro League shortstop (later first baseman) handpicked by Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey to be the first African-American to play in the major leagues. Though he broke the "color barrier," Robinson never saw himself as a "hero" or a historical figure, just a man who wanted to play ball. Like many before him and many since, Robinson never set out to change the world, but he was willing to rise to the challenge when history called upon him to do so.
But it was far from a smooth road to victory for the young man. Robinson had to weather stiff opposition from fans, fellow teammates, Jim Crow laws and the sport itself, and all this is captured effectively in the screenplay by director Brian Helgeland, which neither romanticizes the do-goodism of the action nor overstates the struggle just for dramatic effect (we are shown that there were plenty of people - both intimates and strangers, blacks and whites - who were rooting for Robinson to succeed).
In a star-making turn, Chadwick Boseman delivers the goods as the young Robinson, a man, we are told, with a sizable temper but who manages to rein in his emotions to an almost super-human degree in order to deny his goading detractors just the opportunity they're looking for to bring him down. But amidst a hail of almost nonstop verbal and racist abuse, Robinson retains his dignity by making the bigots look like fools and small-minded bullies in the long run. And it indeed was a long game he was playing, a fact that Rickey consistently reminds Robinson of when things get really bad both on the field and off. And speaking of Rickey, the real scene-stealer of the movie is Harrison Ford playing the gravel-voiced, deeply religious man whose blazing sense of justice and love of baseball converged to alter not only the sport but the world as we would forever after know it.
Helgeland has directed the film with solid conviction, often going for the small, intimate moment over the more obvious dramatic confrontation to impressive effect. Helgeland clearly trusts his material and doesn't feel the need to shout when a whisper will do. Yet even with all this restraint, what's amazing is how shocked we are to realize that all this happened a mere 66 years ago. And to see how far we've come.
And special note should be made of the scenes on the diamond, which beautifully capture the look and feel of the era and the pulse of the game.
To call this movie "inspirational" is not to denigrate it. On the contrary, "42" honestly earns every single tear, goose-bump and throat lump it elicits from its audience. It is truly a movie worthy of its subject.