Movie: 42

42: telling the story of Jackie Robinson integrating major league baseball.   The movie covers the period from 1945 through Robinson’s rookie season with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.   This is not a biography of Jackie Robinson.  Instead, using baseball and the Robinson story, a snapshot of America right after winning WWII is being told.  While every baseball fan should see this movie, “42” is more than just a  baseball film.  The movie opens with a background voice talking about the soldiers returning home but despite the victory over fascism, segregation through Jim Crow laws remain rampant throughout much of the country.  The racism that existed was blatant and the movie does not hide this fact.   Nor does it hide the anti-Semitism which was also prevalent.  A scene shows the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies asking reporters why can’t I call Robinson a Nigger if I can call Hank Greenberg a Kike.  The adventures of Leo Durocher (Christopher Meloni) provide an interesting counterpoint.  For you non-baseball fans, Durocher was the manager of the Dodgers who got suspended in 1947 for his lack of morals - he was dating a Hollywood starlet who got divorced over the relationship.  I could launch into a discussion of sexual morality verses treating each human as an equal, but I won’t.  Chadwick Boseman is a credible Jackie Robinson and Nicole Beharie plays his wife Rachel.  The movie is also a love story as they appear to have had a remarkable relationship.  Mrs. Robinson is still alive and actively working with the education foundation bearing Jackie’s name.  The integration of baseball happened as early as 1947 due to one man, Branch Rickey.  He was a lone voice.  Rickey was the general manager of the Dodgers and it was through his drive and the character of Robinson that baseball integration occurred when it did, with success.  Harrison Ford does a marvelous job portraying Rickey.  The movie was written and directed by Brian Helgeland and he is not into complexity.  The movie score is unfortunate.  It has the sound of a ‘40s movie, which is not meant as a compliment.  Using a movie score to tell the viewer what is important is not a device I endorse.  The 128 minute movie is complimentary to some baseball players (Pee Wee Reese and Ralph Branca) and shows the blatant racism of others (Dixie Walker and Enos Slaughter).  An individual who is shown to have evolved thorough his interaction with Robinson was Bobby Bragan.  There is also a father/son scene which shows how racist acts are passed from father to son.   I recommend that you watch history being told in an entertaining movie but afterwards think about what has transpired during the past 66 years.