42 (2013)

Genre: Biographical

Directed by: Brian Helgeland

Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford, Nicole Behane

Running time: 128 minutes

This 2013 biographical sports film tells the story of how Jackie Robinson broke down racial barriers and became the first African-American to play baseball in the major leagues, after getting signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers.

42 focuses on the first two seasons of Jackie Robinson with the pros, the first one with the farm team of the Montreal Royals and the second one with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Chadwick Boseman, who would also later portray James Brown in a film, did a very good job in the title role. He is very convincing as the strong-willed man who has to ignore the acts of racism around him because his reaction will be the only thing considered if he erupts. Kudos also to Harrison Ford, who did some great transformational work to play Branch Rickey, general manager for the Dodgers, the man who had the idea of calling on an African-American player for his team. It took me a while to recognize Ford. While I have always found the experienced actor a little wooden in his performances, he is really good in 42.

This movie is a very entertaining one and it covers a very important slice of our modern history. While racism still exists, we sure have come a long way.

The only fault I can find with this film is that some lines sounded fake, like nothing these characters would ever have truly said. I feel like, in some cases, the filmmakers got too cute in wanting to show how some men were visionaries and some were racists. In doing so, they embellished a bit. But, other than that, this was compelling tale about a very important figure of our time.

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