Earlier this week I went to see Brian Helgeland's "42" less a biopic of Jackie Robinson than a chronicling of his historic rise in 1946 to become the first African American player in major league baseball in the modern era. The film focuses on the two year period that Robinson entered the professional league first with the Dodgers minor league Montreal Royals and then in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. At the center of the story is the relationship he shared with Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey. Harrison Ford plays Rickey with great reserve that doesn't sacrifice the spunk of the legendary owner, leaning into the quiet moments rather than sucking the air out of the grander, idealistic dialogue. I appreciated that Rickey is portrayed as a businessman who sees the financial value that integration will mean but is not obtuse about the real hurdle he is seeking to overcome by leading the breakdown of this barrier. Ford is just one piece of a well casted film especially selecting the unknown, talented Chadwick Boseman to play Jackie Robinson. Boseman portrays Robinson with a balance of emotions that felt honest, noble and viscerally pained. His take on this iconic hero was that of a man placed in extraordinary circumstances that he did not deliberately seek out.
I enjoyed this film from opening monologue to closing credits. It is very easy to slide into the world the movie creates and has a pacing very similar to The Natural. Yes, it plays every movie manipulation trick in the book from soaring music to triumphant long angle shots. Yes there are canned moments in the script that fall flat but most are covered up by the warmth generated in the cinematography and color palette and the strength of the actors delivering those lines. The flaws or predictability of the film don't matter because the movie isn't trying to hide the fact that it is manipulative. It is a simplistic look at the goodness that comes when we listen to our better angels. Early on when Dickey recruits Robinson he tells him 'not to fight back'. He lets Robinson know that while he is on his side, the reality is the world is stacked against them. In smaller ways throughout the film Rickey influences all of his players to understand that change comes through action. By letting people see what you do, they will soon learn who you are. Had Robinson and his fellow teammates on the Dodgers tried to justify Robinson's role on the team, it would have fallen on deaf ears. This was one of many ways this film gets to the heart of a trusim that still stands 65 years after he broke the racial barrier in baseball.
The optics matter.
One thing I wish they had spent more time on in the film was how Rickey came to chose Robinson. It wasn't an accident that Robinson was selected to be the first. I think this piece of information is critical especially because I don't believe the average audience member is going to know that Robinson wasn't the best player at the time in the Negro leagues, he was the right player to cross the threshold of history and that meant several factors beyond his athletic abilities weighed in on Dickey's decision-making.
The optics matter.
There are several moments built into the film that were meant to get to me and did. However the most effective device that Helgeland used was the recurrence of seeing the movie through young boys' eyes at three pivotal moments. These moments in the movie truly tells the power of how Robinson's dignity and ability to remain professional in the face of horrific mistreatment had a ripple effect beyond the dugout and into the lives of people he never met. We see the excited young boy in the colored section at Spring training witness history when Jackie Robinson steps on the field for the first time. It's not lost on the viewer that this young man's life changed when Jackie Robinson changed history. From that moment forward, being black was no longer a barrier to playing in the major leagues. In a later scene we witness a young white boy in the stands eager to see his favorite player sitting beside his equally enthusiastic father. It is an American snapshot, father and son at the ballpark. Only moments later is this slice of Americana shattered by the father joining in shouting racial slurs as Robinson takes the field, we watch as the young boy attempts to process the actions of his father with the sight of his favorite player embracing Robinson on the field in an attempt to quell the crowd. And finally in one of their final scenes Dickey shares a story with Robinson at a particularly difficult moment for him about passing a young boy on a ball field on his way to Ebbets Field. He explains the young boy was up at the plate imitating Jackie Robinson's batting routine. Dickey reveals that the young boy was white going onto to say, "A white child trying to be a black man".
The optics matter.
Growing up I saw very few images of Hispanics. When they did appear they were often only shown as thugs, drug addicts or pimps. Maria from Sesame Street was the lone beacon on television as someone who looked like me as a young child. That's the reason I think the inner beauty and strength of this movie so loudly resonates in that repeating point of view of the children seen in the movie.
By letting them see what you do they will learn who you are. This has been a truism in my life when I wasn't white enough, Puerto Rican enough, tough enough, whatever - enough. The optics have always mattered and as I look into the innocent face of my 7 year old I realize as much as life has changed, the optics will always somehow matter. It is why I took her to the Mall on that cold January day in 2009 to see Barack Obama inaugurated. It is why I talk to her about Sonia Sotomayor. Seeing the possibilities in life requires optimism and tenacity but no one can deny that fuel is added to the fire when the reflection of your aspirations looks like the person you see in the mirror everyday.
The optics matter.
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