When I entered the theater I noticed a vast variety of folks coming to see this film; from the very old to the very young. There was even a coach that brought what seemed like his whole little league team. As you know I am not a huge fan of bio-pics, but I wanted to see this story just because of the amazing achievement of this man. I remember how hard things were in the 1960s, so I can't imagine how tough times were in 1947. The fact that Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) not only had to be a great ball player, but he also had to have the willpower to tame his temper. I am not sure that I know many men who would stand down to the abuse that he suffered. The verbal abuse that was lashed out by Ben Chapman (Alan Tudyk) was really disturbing, but it did shed a lot of light on what Jackie had to deal with. Luckily Jackie had his wife Rachel (Nicole Beharie) to lean on. It was surprising that Rachel was a bit of a rebel herself, which made her very endearing. General Manager Leo Durocher (Christopher Meloni) was also a bit of a rebel; just a different kind. Leo was rambunctious and seemingly did whatever he wanted. He turned out to be a color-blind manager and he did not care what anyone else thought. Wendell Smith (Andre Holland) was the reporter tasked to chronicle this historic event. He would sit on the 3rd base line with his typewriter in his lap and capture all of Jackie's great moments as well as the intentional injuries that he incurred. Although Jackie is definitely a hero in this film, he is not the only one. Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) was a hero as well. You had to be a special kind of person to change the policies of an entire league. There were many reasons why he wanted to sign the first black player to the Brooklyn Dodgers, but I think that the one that he gave at the end of the film was the one that tugged at my heart. This is one film that I think everyone should see because there are so many lessons that can be learned and taught to the next generation. The one thing that I did not know was that during one game of every season, all the Brooklyn Dodgers wear number 42. Very cool. I give this film a green light.
