Here is where I will keep track of the flicks I've watched. If you see typos or errors, or you really like what I wrote, or maybe you flat out disagree with me. Don't be shy! Lemme know what YOU think.
I had to trek all the way out to Richmond to catch this one, but it was worth it. Baseball season just started this week so it's the perfect time for a baseball flick to come out, and this a good one too.
It's a biopic about Jackie Robinson, played by Chadwick Boseman.
Spoiler!!!
In case you didn't know, Jackie Robinson was the first black man to cross the colour barrier and end the segregation of American baseball when he started playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.
Harrison Ford plays Branch Rickey, the owner of The Brooklyn Dodgers, and he decides he's had enough of the racism in his beloved sport. He brings in Jackie to try out for the farm team in Montreal and his staff are of course asking him, what the hell, are you out of your mind? His response is that there are a lot of coloured folk in the bleachers and their money is green. (Incidentally, I liked the use of the word "coloured" in this, it's antiquated and yeah it's no longer an appropriate term, but like Indian for Native Americans it's got an old timey homey quality too.) Rickey is a business man, and as much as people consider the sport of baseball to be America's national past time, the business end of baseball is all bottom line about the Benjamins. I guess, show me the money, could be considered America's legit national past time too actually. Rickey figures he can win with black players, and he feels like it's the moral thing to do also. He's right of course, but is the American public ready to embrace racial integration on the field? Answering that question is where the drama lies eh?
It's a social justice flick that really reminded me of something Spielberg would have made. It's well done and gave me good feels. I recommend it.
It comes out on April 12th, but I think the best time to see it would be on the 15th, since that's Jackie Robinson Day, when all the MLB players wear number 42, (the only number retired in the league), to honour Robinson's achievement in smashing the colour barrier.
