I give this movie a 10 not because it is an "excellent" movie, which it is not, but because of what there is to be gotten out of it.
What there is not to be gotten out of it, from what I have read, is an accurate depiction of what Robinson went through once he joined the Dodgers organization. In 1950, when this movie was made, Robinson was still very much an active player in the league, and the people who made life miserable for him, including players on the Montreal and Brooklyn teams, were very much alive, some still Robinson's colleagues. Just as the name of the league is changed to the International League, so other details are altered or ignored, probably to avoid lawsuits. In that sense, "42" can name names and give facts that this movie could not.
On the other hand, what this movie offers is the chance to watch the real Jackie Robinson relive some of the difficult, terrible moments he had to go through to stay in major-league baseball - and pave the way for other Blacks to do the same. Even though this time it is only actors hurling the (I suspect very toned down) insults at him, denying him access to a restaurant, etc., you get to watch his face as he no doubt had to relive what it had felt like to experience those in real life just a few years before.
It is a deeply difficult and very moving experience for the viewer as well, different from what I felt watching an actor - and a very fine actor - go through the same episodes in "42". Robinson reacts to everything very quietly. He didn't have a deep, booming voice like James Earl Jones, for example. But if you look at his face, you see that there is real power there, fighting any man's urge to strike back.
The best parts of this movie are not easy viewing, but they allow us to experience, to some extent, the injustices against which Robinson had to fight with him. Not 30 years after the fact, but just three or four years later. We see the same Robinson who had just gone through all that, a Robinson who would therefore have remembered how it made him feel only too clearly.
This movie doesn't have much to do with baseball. It has a very great deal to do with courage and moral strength.
And also: I preferred the performance of Minor Watson here, as Branch Rickey, to Harrison Ford's portrayal in "42". Ford made Rickey a comical curmudgeon. Watson makes him much more human.
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If you want to see a documentary on Robinson, try this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8xS8lZl2RI
It shows that some of the most painful lines in this movie were actually said to or about Robinson.
What there is not to be gotten out of it, from what I have read, is an accurate depiction of what Robinson went through once he joined the Dodgers organization. In 1950, when this movie was made, Robinson was still very much an active player in the league, and the people who made life miserable for him, including players on the Montreal and Brooklyn teams, were very much alive, some still Robinson's colleagues. Just as the name of the league is changed to the International League, so other details are altered or ignored, probably to avoid lawsuits. In that sense, "42" can name names and give facts that this movie could not.
On the other hand, what this movie offers is the chance to watch the real Jackie Robinson relive some of the difficult, terrible moments he had to go through to stay in major-league baseball - and pave the way for other Blacks to do the same. Even though this time it is only actors hurling the (I suspect very toned down) insults at him, denying him access to a restaurant, etc., you get to watch his face as he no doubt had to relive what it had felt like to experience those in real life just a few years before.
It is a deeply difficult and very moving experience for the viewer as well, different from what I felt watching an actor - and a very fine actor - go through the same episodes in "42". Robinson reacts to everything very quietly. He didn't have a deep, booming voice like James Earl Jones, for example. But if you look at his face, you see that there is real power there, fighting any man's urge to strike back.
The best parts of this movie are not easy viewing, but they allow us to experience, to some extent, the injustices against which Robinson had to fight with him. Not 30 years after the fact, but just three or four years later. We see the same Robinson who had just gone through all that, a Robinson who would therefore have remembered how it made him feel only too clearly.
This movie doesn't have much to do with baseball. It has a very great deal to do with courage and moral strength.
And also: I preferred the performance of Minor Watson here, as Branch Rickey, to Harrison Ford's portrayal in "42". Ford made Rickey a comical curmudgeon. Watson makes him much more human.
-----------------------
If you want to see a documentary on Robinson, try this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8xS8lZl2RI
It shows that some of the most painful lines in this movie were actually said to or about Robinson.