Robert Redford's Swan-Song

Rating: 10/10 (11 April 2001)

!! **Spoilers** !!
This film is simply as good as they come. Perhaps it just strikes the right cords with me. But this, in my mind, is the Peak of Robert Redford. His masterpiece. The movie could be played without an audio track and still move you with its visuals and the images. Likewise, you could rely on just the dialogue and no sense of sight, and be moved by the dialogue and exchanges between the characters. Particularly Bagger Vance. Bagger... It took a third viewing of the film before I truly understood Bagger. For the purposes of this film, bagger is God, or as Robert Redford calls him in the DVD production featurette "a spiritual being." An Angel to say the least, but quite possibly the films intention was to portray him as divine. We don't see Bagger's entrance, or exit. We don't see him eat, or bleed, or become angered. And then we see him motioning from the bright light of a sunset over a Golf Course. Often the golf Course is used for a metaphor for life by Bagger, so perhaps the deeper meaning of that final scene is lost on people that wanted less out of the movie, or saw bagger as what he wanted to be perceived as. One scene in particular shows Bagger's grasp on Junuh's pain, and the power he needs to overcome it, where Junuh comes to the realization that this fight for his swing, the golf match, isn't about a trophy or a town, But about his soul. The film uses Golf as a vessel for this story of a broken man trying to redeem his spirit and his lost identity, and it succeeds with vivid flying colors. One of the most underrated films of the year, overlooked by the box-office, the critics, and the awards. But appreciated by me. A true 10.