What is it about sci-fi and sports movies that make for such good metaphors? Maybe it's because they represent something we all aspire to, by using those figures of mythological standing to communicate larger truths. It's even better when the myth is actually true, as in the case of 42, the story of Jackie Robinson. Baseball, for some reason, connects with us Americans on a deep, passionate level. While I would argue football has surpassed it as America's pasttime, it has never surpassed baseball in America's heart. It's something timeless, and uniquely American, as so few things are. This is OUR sport, and it is the perfect foil to which we can paint our collective experience. Whether it be the yearning for simpler ages or unrealized opportunities like Field of Dreams, to second chances like The Rookie or Bull Durham or The Natural, to the plight of the underdog like Major League or The Bad News Bears, to the beginning of the women's movement in A League of Their Own, to the complexities of race in America like 42. Baseball represents something pure, a canvas to paint our complex pictures in a cultural framework with which we can all immediately identify. 42 is just that much more rich because it is true; the beginning of a new, more complex, but ultimately, better age. While our eyes may moisten sometimes at more innocent times gone by, 42 demonstrates that there were no "good old days.". There were evil undercurrents in our facade of civility, and that those half-truths had to be smashed so that more enlightened ages and ideas can follow. For those who say America's best days are behind her, I would argue that the best is yet to come. We are constantly moving forward as a society that really is justice for all, that we are that shining city on a hill that others can, and should, emulate.
Now, I normally don't get so sentimental in my reviews, but this movie brought it out of me. This is not a backward-looking movie, a longing for more simpler times, but rather one looking ahead. While 42 does have its share of cliche and sentiment, it also has hard truths as well. Normally, movies that deal with the subject of race in America tend to gloss over the uglier facts of racism, or at least pays them only a token homage like The Help or Driving Miss Daisy. As good as these films are, I think they gloss over the racism angle to make it more palatable for all viewers. Hollywood has never really liked hard-hitting films on race. Movies like Malcolm X or A Soldier's Story tend to be smaller, more independent affairs and don't win Oscars. Hollywood has always been a tad hypocritical about this. 42 did not gloss over the attitude of people, the actions or words or deeds of our racist society then, nor the struggle Jackie had to go through, having the courage to not fight back. I remember when I was a kid and my dad talked to me about racism and unfairness for the first time when I was seven, and he used Jackie's example that he witnessed when he was a boy. He told me exactly what the film said. The courage to be the example, the bravery of not fighting back even with very justification to shame those who are in the wrong. Action follows example, and as 42 dramatically illustrates, we were seeing an entire new world being born with him. It shows what we strive to be as Americans, not necessarily what we are. We strive to reach the better angels of our nature as Shakespeare would say. It started with the Declaration and continues today. The fight still goes on, ever forward.
So why only 3.5 stars instead of four? Simply that it is very sentimental and cliched at times. That does not make it bad. Quite the contrary. I also think Harrison Ford has finally acted in a film. I knew he had it in there somewhere. At many times during the film, I didn't even recognize him, he was so good. Lastly, you'll note I didn't use the movie poster this time, but instead the iconic shot of Pee Wee Reese with his arm around Jackie's shoulders in Cincinnati in 1947. This signature shot of the movie graphically tells everything the movie is about in one striking image. This same moment is commemorated in bronze in New York outside The Cyclones' stadium. Did it really happen? Probably. But what matters is what it represents, and all good movies strive for that moment. Moments like this. Go see it. I think you will like it as much as I did.
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