American sports movies seem to be the bread and butter for Chadwick Boseman, whose most recent flick, Draft Day, sees him in a supporting role dealing with the trials and tribulations of the NFL Draft. However, after a string of smaller movie parts, it was his starring role in 42 that will surely catapult his career into Hollywood stardom.
In recent years, a certain brand of movies have come about celebrating the struggles of some of the best known sports stars and their effect on the games of today, and those films have won tremendous critical acclaim. In 2009, Sandra Bullock won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in the inspirational film, The Blind Side, and 42, which tells the story of baseball legend Jackie Robinson.
Step forward Chadwick Boseman, who should be commended for his sensitive portrayal of the Brooklyn Dodgers batsman who challenged the racial segregation of the time and became the first African American baseball player to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era.
Breaking the barriers
42 chronicles Robinson’s rise to fame in the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers season, while he has to face the racial tensions of 1940s America and convince his bigoted critics that he is as deserving of a place in Major League Baseball as any white man.
Indeed, the film would not be what it is without a stellar supporting cast, including former explorer and sky walker Harrison Ford, who masters the role of team executive Branch Rickey. After facing racial abuse from a gas station employee, Robinson first encounters Rickey, a white man who offers him a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson eagerly accepts and has the undying support of his fiancée, played by the brilliant Nicole Beharie. Another American sports movie veteran, having starred in flicks such as The Express, it’s clear as to why Beharie was chosen for the part of Robinson’s fiancée.
Boseman’s portrayal of Robinson’s famous temper is particularly moving as Robinson refuses to take the taunts of Philadelphia Phillies manager Ben Chapman. Indeed, there is a strong feeling of empathy and satisfaction for the viewer as Robinson’s team mate Pee Wee Reese makes a public sign of defiance and support as he poses with Robinson in front of a bigoted Cincinnati crowd.
With an outstanding cast and touching depiction of the attitudes of the time, 42 is a hard-hitting, thought-provoking masterpiece which makes the viewer appreciate the struggles that players have had to go through to shape the Major League Baseball that we know and love today.
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