Surprised

Rating: Null/10 (22 June 2002)

My car was being serviced and I just needed somewhere to get out of the rain for a couple hours. I don't go to a lot of movies as I'm often disappointed and walk away feeling as though I could have better spent my $13 elsewhere. It was 10am on a Wednesday and I was the only person in the theater . . . ooops! And it's a film about baseball, something about which I know nothing and have little interest. As someone said earlier, 'Bad News Bears meet Boys in the Hood', anyway I was dry and warm and I could always stretch out and have a nap. I was prepared to be bored. From the outset however I was struck by the gritty inner city existance of the characters, and particularly the contrast for the children between the comfort and relative safety of their school, and their homes where people sit on the floor to avoid stray bullets. I think this was important to show that baseball wasn't the only saving light these kids had, and as 'hardball' and street wise as they may have been, they were at least getting guidance and an education in a seemingly good educational environment as well. Being by myself, I wasn't ashamed to get a lump in my throat at the 'right' bits and was grateful the movie didn't end with the usual nail biting, slow motion score to win the title. You kind of knew they'd win anyway but leading into the final game I wouldn't have been all that disappointed if they'd lost. Because all the characters seemed to have gained so much within themselves already.