Average biopic ably covers Robinson the legend, but not so much the man

Rating: 5/10 (4 May 2013)

At what point does a film biography become a hagiography? Yes of course we know that it took tremendous courage to do what Jackie Robinson did. But no matter how hard writer/director Brian Helgeland tries, he ultimately falls into the pit of placing the legendary Mr. Robinson, on a pedestal that he can't get off.
Helgeland does well in introducing us to Jackie the legend but we never get a sense of who Robinson the man, really was. I'm not sure if it could really be done, but perhaps in the hands of a better writer, a lot more interesting facts about Jackie Robinson could have been revealed. I leave the digging up of those facts to those who are privy to the real behind-the-scenes look of Robinson's career and the interactions amongst the players and management of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Still, Helgeland does touch upon the basic history of what Robinson had to put up with when he entered major league baseball. I found it particularly interesting the whole affair with Ben Chapman, who was perhaps one of the most virulent racists in baseball at that time. It was bad publicity from the press that actually got the front office of the Philadelphia Phillies to force Chapman to publicly act nice toward Robinson. Note that Robinson came up with the idea of taking a picture with Chapman while holding a bat (Robinson justifiably doesn't want to shake his hand because he knows Chapman doesn't really mean what he says—he's just doing it upon orders of his bosses).
Helgeland also has a number of other good scenes, particularly the one in which Robinson must suppress his rage after being taunted by Chapman, and is counseled by Branch Rickey not to let the racist manager, provoke him.
Historically, Robinson's struggle against racism is an epic battle, but dramatically it's difficult to illustrate, since there isn't one antagonist which Robinson must fight until an exciting climax at film's end. Instead, in documentary style, we're treated to a series of end credits, which are designed to explain why we should feel elevated by Robinson's achievement.
Chadwick Boseman does a fine job as Robinson but he's limited by a script that mainly focuses on Robinson's internal struggle to keep a lid on his own justified anger and raw emotions as well as illustrating some of his celebrated moves on the base paths. Robinson's relationship with Branch Rickey is perhaps the most fleshed out of Robinson's relationships with the people who he interacted with, during his life. Helgeland gives Nicole Behaire little to do as Rachel Robinson, Robinson's devoted wife, and one keeps wondering whether Helgeland could have done more with the part.
Bill Madden, the NY Daily News sports columnist, points out that the film is full of factual errors. For example, he argues that Leo Durocher was not suspended for his marital infidelities, but for gambling. He also asks how Robinson could have had a walk-off home run, in the opponent's home park? And the daughter of Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher, Fritz Ostermueller, maintains that her father never hit Robinson in the head with a pitch and that he merely was throwing a 'brush back' pitch. What's more she insisted that, "My dad, to my knowledge, was not a racist," she told TMZ. "I was not raised in that type of home." How much research did Helgeland actually do for this film? He has Ralph Branca asking Robinson to join him in the shower and Branca insists that never happened. Sure, a writer can take dramatic license, but at least write something that seems mildly plausible.
If you want a basic history lesson about how Jackie Robinson became major league's baseball's first black ballplayer and if you're also interested in seeing a good performance by Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey, '42' is for you. But 'touching all the bases' does not make a great work of art. This is the film that needed to be a lot more subtle and it's nowhere near that.
Jackie Robinson's early demise must be seen as tragic since he was only 53 when diabetes and heart disease took his life. Maybe that fact also should have been mentioned in the film, a fact equally as important as all of Jackie Robinson's great achievements on and off the baseball field.