The First One: Baseball Player or President of the USA

Rating: 7/10 (23 April 2013)

I was moved by the bravery of Robinson and by the heroism of Branch Rickey. I was disgusted by the racism in America though I already knew it was there. Someone remarked (it may have been MSNBC's Chris Mathews)that if you're the first, you have to have extra strength and courage to withstand the vitriolic insults and bitter hatred. Mathews mentioned Jackie Robinson's strength in that area when talking about President Obama and the tough road he has had. That is why I wanted to see the film and I was not disappointed in that regard--it took superhuman strength not to fight back.
But I was disappointed that Robinson's personality wasn't more complex, more interesting. He liked baseball and liked winning and that was about it. He wasn't funny or profound. He was simply brave. Maybe he had a nurturing, loving background, a happy childhood and it left his mind clear to chart out his goals with little or no conflict or self-sabotage. Humor often comes from a recipe containing some conflict and neurosis. I missed that complexity due, perhaps, to my own background. But you can't write in lines that just weren't there. Like the film "Lincoln," it was the historical moment that made the film almost easy to make.