100% On My Movie Meter

Rating: 10/10 (6 February 2019)

I always remember learning about Jackie Robinson in elementary and how he was the first African American man to play in major league baseball, but that is about it. We never learned about what he really went through. My first experience watching 42 was at school. I loved it and it became one of my favorite movies. I immediately had my family watch it and it became a favorite for all of us. I have watched it several more times and love it every time. One of the greatest scenes in this movie reminds me of when I was in elementary school learning about Pee Wee Reese putting his arm around Jackie Robinson. Learning about that as a young kid, I never really understood why he did that, and I never really understood racism, but watching that scene when I was older, I understood.
The movie follows Jackie Robinson as he makes it onto the Montreal Royals baseball team and then goes on to be the first African American in major league baseball as a Brooklyn Dodger. It also follows Branch Rickey as he breaks the color barrier in baseball.
Like I said before, I already knew that Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in major league baseball before watching this movie, but that's all I really knew about him. After I watched this movie I was able to see what he really had to go through and the courage that he had to have to not fight back. I love the history in this movie and always find it amazing to learn about very courageous people. With every historical movie, I always question the accuracy because you never know if everything portrayed in the movie will be right or not. With this movie, I didn't ever really question the accuracy. I would still need to read up on Jackie Robinson's story more to see if this movie is really accurate, but what I have read of his story, the movie follows. I really love that this movie can be applied today. Racism is still going on around us and this movie helps to fight against that. There are also many people in today's world that have to be courageous like Jackie Robinson because of discrimination whether they are in a group being discriminated or whether they are being discriminated against personally.
The director of this movie is Brian Helgeland. I have never heard of him before, and haven't seen any of the movies he's directed besides this one, but I am familiar with some of them. He did an amazing job directing this movie. The main actors in this movie are Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford, Nicole Beharie. I love Harrison Ford and Chadwick Boseman as actors. I have never seen Nicole Beharie in another movie, but she was a great actress in this movie. My favorite scene in this movie was after Ben Chapman had been bad mouthing Jackie on the field. Jackie almost couldn't take it, but he kept on going and fighting for what was right.
I really loved the acting in this movie and I loved the message that was given to keep fighting for the right thing. I could watch this movie a million more times and not get sick of it. I love learning about the history of civil rights and the civil rights issues and I love this movie because it shows how those issues were fought against, but in a different setting than a lot of other civil rights movies I have seen. I recommend this movie for those who love history, specifically the history of the civil rights era, and for those who just love baseball.