42 (2013)

Directed by: Brian Helgeland
Country: USA

Review: 42 is a biopic about Jackie Robinson, the first African American baseball player hired to play in a major league team, breaking the color barrier that prevailed since 1880's. Robinson became an official player of Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, fighting in silence against racist prejudices, both inside and outside the team. His exceptional skills, sporting behavior, and effort put in the field, ended up winning the respect of team mates, managers, reporters, and general public. The film also focuses the importance of his wife Rachel, but great part of its time is spend on provocations, threats, and discriminations related with the racial segregation, as well as assorted episodes from several games that remained forever in the history of baseball. This is the fourth feature film from helmer Brian Helgeland, who seems to have won the heart of American audiences, but unfortunately did not touch mine. The approach was banal and nothing new or unanticipated was added to make it interesting. I felt that Helgeland’s main concern was to impress us with the racial theme, forgetting to spend some time building the character itself. 42 depicts Robinson’s life in the most conventional Hollywood tradition, using the same old formulas and manipulations that most of us are fed up. Its noble intentions and a couple of rousing moments, could not make Jackie Robinson's fantastic achievements seem so special on the screen.