42

Rating – 3.5/4

*SPOILERS*

42 (2013) is a great example of a film that clearly deals with societal struggles. The story of Jackie Robinson showcases his difficult path to Major League Baseball in the 1940s and his experiences with society not wanting him in the league because of his race and skin color. Although nowadays this has changed from the past, the film places the viewer in that period and feels the emotions that director Brian Helgeland intends.

I think this film is very well made and the actors, mainly Chadwick Boseman remarkably play the main character of Jackie Robinson. I also want to applaud the rest of the cast on a job very well done, especially Harrison Ford, who played Branch Rickey. This film is a true story, and I personally love true story films.

This one was so great they paid huge attention to the smaller details and incorporated them into the film. They had the jerseys right, and costume designer Caroline Harris incorporated great costumes for people in the stands while adding a lot of things that some people wouldn’t even think about.

42 raises issues such as racism, sexism, and major league sports rule restrictions. There are points in the movie where Jackie Robinson’s character can’t go in the locker room because it was for white players only and he had nowhere to go. Over time, his teammates understood his situation better and they didn’t care as much about race. They valued him as a person and began to stand up for their teammate. By the end of the film, the connection between Jackie and his teammates has improved immensely.

In the film, there is one scene in the locker room where Jackie explains that he waits for everyone else to shower before he does because he doesn’t want to offend anyone because of his skin color. In the 1940s, there weren’t individual showers. There were team showers with a line of shower heads and nothing separating them. Robinson felt that when he showered, the other teammates would take offense to him being naked in front of a bunch of white guys. One of his teammates, Ralph Branca (Hamish Linklater), convinces Jackie to take a shower at the same time as the other players and it shows how the team is becoming more accepting towards Jackie. 

As for the production aspect of things, the cinematography, headed by Don Burgess was well-thought out and it matched the editing by Peter McNulty and Kevin Stitt. The music by Mark Isham was fantastic, enhancing the emotion throughout the film. Overall, the production team should be super proud of this film and I’m so glad that a story this important was created into such a beautiful film.

In conclusion, this film is a very good film to pay tribute to Jackie Robinson and is well made. I think that this film is a must-watch for baseball fans as it shows some of the instances that changed baseball history forever. Racism, sexism, and a lot more have changed since then and those changes are for the better and they have impacted us even more than 60 years later. It is great how a film can bring back the influences of a real-life event and change people.