Historically Flawed

Rating: 6/10 (8 April 2017)

This film takes place during the Cold War with a young American by the name of "Bobby Fischer" (played by Tobey Maguire) setting out to become the World Chess Champion which had been under exclusive domination of the Soviet Union for almost 40 years. Yet, even though he was a most formidable challenger there were several obstacles he had to overcome, which not only included an incredible number of skilled Soviet grandmasters, but his own character flaws as well. To that end, this film provides an interesting--albeit somewhat flawed-glimpse into this person's unique quest. Now, having said that, let me first state that I thought both Tobey Maguire, and Liv Schreiber (as "Boris Spassky") performed in an excellent manner. However, to be fair there were certain aspects which lacked historical accuracy and should probably be mentioned as well. First, I don't believe this film gives an accurate or honest portrayal of Bobby Fischer. Yes, he would often become quite agitated when distracted by noise. But let's be honest, he wasn't the only chess player to voice his displeasure in that regard. Likewise, there were a couple of times he walked out during certain chess competitions. However, it should be noted that Bobby had religious restrictions which forbade him from playing on the Sabbath. So when his legitimate objections were ignored he did what he felt was necessary. Yet rather than giving him credit for putting his religious beliefs ahead of everything else this film uses this fact against him. Also worth mentioning is the fact that Bobby was very shy and socially awkward. Unfortunately, rather than taking this into account this film makes him look like a raving lunatic instead. Now, that is not to say that Bobby didn't eventually go completely insane. But this was a gradual process which accelerated after he won the World Championship due in part to his feelings of betrayal by the same religious institution he had put so much faith-and money--into. Additionally, as mentioned earlier, Bobby was quite shy and as a result he preferred to do things on his own and was very much a loner. That said, this movie greatly exaggerates the influence "Father Bill Lombardy" (Peter Sarsgaard) and "Paul Marshall" (Michael Stuhlbarg) had upon him. Further, it should also be mentioned that Boris Spassky was not the World Champion when he and Bobby sat down at the board during the Piatigorsky Cup in 1966-that honor belonged at the time to Tigran Petrosian and it would be another 3 years before Boris could claim that title. To that extent, these are just a few of the inaccuracies detailed in this film--with several other flaws out there that I haven't mentioned. That being said, those who have followed Bobby Fisher's career will probably be less than impressed with the manner in which he has been portrayed. Ironically, in spite of these criticisms, I still found this film to still be entertaining to a certain degree and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.