(your name and surname)
“Baseball was proof positive that democracy was real. A baseball box score after all, is a democratic thing. It doesn't say how big you are, or what religion you follow it does not know how you voted, or the color of your skin, it simply states what kind of ballplayer you were on any particular day”. It’s telling, when the film starts with a quote, which is methodically taken apart, denied and discarded only to turn true in the end. The story is not about the reality of the things, claimed in the quote; it is about the struggle to make it reality. The main character has to face racial prejudice, make a double effort to maintain his will and energy to grow as a baseball player, and, finally, make a triumphant home run to his success in baseball and decent social position.
Racial prejudice has been deeply implemented in the conscience of American society. “No law against it. – No, but there is a code”. And it regulates lives. Throughout the film, we see this “unwritten law” in every moment, sometimes mundane, like visiting the restroom, taking a shower, sharing a change room; sometimes the moments are life changing, like becoming a part of a baseball team of the national level. The code is battled with defiance, with resistance, with patience and sheer force of will, but the film doesn’t sugar-coat it – it existed for years, and the roots go deep (“you nursed racial prejudice at your mother’s breast”), and the war with it was and even still is going on.
Jackie Robson had to make double work to maintain his will and energy for the success in game. “It’s forgotten when the game’s over”, - says the man after spitting venom and hatred with relish, insulting a player on the grounds of the color of his skin, of him being different. And the continuity in scenes shows the conflict between the words and reality: Jackie Robinson stands under the water, closing his eyes and willing himself to keep his respect for himself and still have his guts “not” to fight. That is a vivid and straightforward symbol of society, its attitude, its thick-headedness, ignorance and refusal to change the status quo, even when the change is inevitable and for the good. But the film doesn’t stop on the negative visual; it’s complicated and slow, and from time to time frustrating, but people change, and the first African American player appears in the big game, and he shows himself, and he succeeds. And the team goes to defend their teammate, stands up for him, acknowledges him, “the little white boy, pretending he is a black man” becomes reality, bringing a new order and a new code to baseball and America.
This story, despite the attention and time it gives to baseball, is not about the game. Baseball is a handy metaphor for life, and Jackie’s struggle is a metaphor for the battle people of color have to fight every day. Robinson’s inner struggle, the double standards and hypocrisy he is subjected to, the experience of his virtues twisted to be demonstrated as flaws, are terrifyingly common and unfair, - “If he were white, we’d call that spirit”. But in this story, as well as in real life, there is the other side of a coin, - “Maybe tomorrow, we'll all wear 42, so nobody could tell us apart”.
There is a narrative throughout the story, which bring up the concept and meaning of “home” in different ways. It is a home, where the loving wife waits for Jackie; it is a home where he returns after the exhausting day of battle on the field and moral battle on the bleachers. It is a home in a “home run”, and home in America, where the “victory over the fascism in Germany” did not bring “a victory over the racism at home”.
Making a conclusion, the concept of home acquires a sense of victory, at least gives a way to it, in the last scene (“headed for home sweet home”), blooming later into history of new baseball, new life, where Jackie Robinson is elected in the Hall of Fame and racists are left behind, with their outdated and horrible mind sets. A symbolic visual of 42 running to the base and Jackie Robinson, victorious, running to his wife, and reaching both, embracing the sense of achievement, portrays hope and aspiration. It is a home run in more sense than one.
