Make sure young people in your life see this movie

Rating: Null/10 (7 June 2013)

I had no idea that Jackie Robinson was the man he was, or that baseball after World War II was right up there with Jackson, Mississippi as a racist stronghold of segregation. Shame on me. And kudos to yet another movie that brings to light our sorry history of anger and hatred—a history that seems to continue to this very day. So this review is more about the history lesson than about the movie per se, and that alone should tell you that it's worth your time. When you want to write more about the issues raised by a movie than about the actors and the directing, you know the movie has legs.
"Your enemy will be out in force," Harrison Ford tells Jackie Robinson, "but you cannot meet him on his own low ground." That kind of dialogue means that there are life lessons in this movie that will show up on Facebook in quotes against setting-sun backgrounds. And Harrison Ford delivers them with brilliant timing—brilliant I tell you—and twitching that cements the moment in our memory. This is one of Ford's finest performances, and while he leaves his sexy somewhere off the screen for this one, his portrayal of Branch Rickey is compelling and worthy of an Oscar nod. Want another one? "Sympathy is the Greek word for suffer. To sympathize with Jackie is to suffer with him." And we do suffer with him. But the movie also tells us he felt very alone. I'm sorry for that.
Jackie Robinson died a young man, frail and tired, in his early fifties. It takes a lot out of a man who has much to be angry about to constantly turn the other cheek and never respond when publicly humiliated, especially when that man is expected to perform a job as difficult as baseball, which calls for total concentration. The fact that he was able to do both—turn the other cheek and play like a champion—was a mark of his greatness. And I have to believe it led to his early demise. Quite a price to pay.
I guess I should mention the love story between Jackie and his wife, Rachel, but it was too perfect for the likes of twice-divorced me. I don't believe in that kind of perfect love, and I cannot believe there was no discord through it all. I cannot believe he was so gentle all the time, this man who had every reason to be filled with rage at the injustice of the way he was treated. Nope, call me a cynic, but I think his marital history was rewritten here, and I'm sticking with that opinion. But either way, he seemed to love being a family man, and another kudo to him for that.
There are a lot of heroes in this movie; it's one of the things that makes it unique. Normally in movies, there is one hero against the world; but it took a village of heroes to make Robinson a baseball game changer, and they had a village. Rickey. Robinson. Pee Wee Reese. There was a moment when Reese walked over to Robinson amid the boos and put his arm around him, just to let everyone in the world know exactly what he thought, and that moment brought tears to everyone in the theater. Andre Holland also stands out as Wendell Smith, the black writer who sits in the stadium with a typewriter on his lap because colored writers are not allowed in the press box. And the list goes on.
This movie was written and directed by Brian Helgeland, who is best known for movies like Robin Hood, The Green Zone, Man on Fire, Conspiracy Theory, and other guy films with violence and rough guy stuff. The soft underbelly of his writing style comes out in 42, and it's a good thing. He clearly has the versatility to write minimalist dialogue that matters. Robinson doesn't say much, so when he does speak it is important that the words work, and they do. Well done. Not since Mystic River has your work resonated with such depth. The other thing is that I usually am furious that directors choose to write as well; there is no Jack of all Trades in movie making, but Brian is the exception to the rule. You can write and direct anytime Mr. Helgeland.
You must see this movie. You must make sure young people in your life see this movie. And call a friend after seeing it and ask them what they thought. I wish it were no longer relevant to our lives today, but sadly, it still is. So see the movie, and take its lesson home with you. And on April 15 each year—Jackie Robinson Day, the day when everyone in the league wears the retired number 42 on the field—say a silent thank you to Jackie Robinson, and to those around him as well. We owe them a lot