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 arry Levinson's "The Natural" is the movie that
made me love baseball, not because of the sport itself, but because of what it
represents. Before "The Natural," I considered baseball nothing more
than a slow, laborious sport that was akin to watching paint dry. Post-"The
Natural," a film about a young baseball player who returns to the game long
after his prime, I started to see the sport as something more – something
bigger.
"The Natural" is a period film set in the early
20th century. The uniforms are baggy, there's not a black face to be
found on the field or in the dugout, and players still travel between stadiums
by train. The movie centers on Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford), a young natural
baseball player (the "natural" of the title) with a gift for the game.
Hobbs is an up-and-coming pitcher, capable of striking out anyone and everyone,
until a tragic event sidelines him from the game. Now in his '40s (an age where,
as one character remarks, players should be thinking about retirement), Hobbs
returns to the game as a rookie fresh out of the minor leagues -- and becomes a
star.
No longer able to pitch, Hobbs has become a natural hitter,
launching balls into the stands at will. Robert Redford plays Hobbs as a teen
and as an adult, and it is to the movie's credit that it never tries to put
Redford and co-star Glenn Close in "youth" or "aging"
makeup, but instead relies on the audience's ability to see through the lack of
deception. Yes, that is 40-something Redford playing a teen. He and Close are so
natural (forgive the pun) and are so sold to their roles that it's hard to get
petty about it. (Today, one wonders if a director and his star would even bother
trying to pull off such a choice.)
The movie is based on a novel by Bernard Malamud, and like
the game that it pays homage to, the movie moves at a slow, languid pace. It's
in no hurry to rush through its 3 hours and instead seems content to lie out in
the sunny fields and throw balls around for the sheer enjoyment of it. The film
also offers some of the most beautiful cinematography of its era. Levinson and
cinematographer Caleb Deschanel's use of black and white, in combination with
shadows and sunlight, and even clothes of individual characters, swamps the film
in layers and lyrical quality. The movie moves with measured pace, and every
single second of it is cherished.
There is, of course, more to the story than just Hobbs'
rise from obscurity to the big leagues. Wilford Brimley plays Pop Fisher, the
coach of Hobbs' team, who is fighting with the team's co-owner, the Judge
(Robert Prosky) for sole ownership. The Pop and Judge characters are revealed as
more than just a personal grudge or even a corporate power play, but something
akin to good versus evil. This dichotomy between the two figureheads is further
enhanced by Pop's fatherly feelings toward Hobbs and the team, and the Judge's
propensity to hide in the shadows of his dark office room, only gazing out into
the light when he absolutely must.
There is also a prominent love story between Hobbs and
Glenn Close's Iris, as two young lovers who meets up again later in life and
discovers that nothing about their feelings for each other has changed, even if
everything around them has. A young Kim Basinger has a juicy role as the loose
woman trying to manipulate Hobbs because she belongs to a bookie who needs to
control Hobbs' exploits on the field. Basinger is sympathetic mostly because her
character is so innocent and naïve, and even as she tries to ruin Hobbs for her
master, we don't really hate her. She's just another victim, unable to conquer
her vices. It's a dangerous hole she's in, we realize, one that Hobbs is on the
precipice of falling into if he's not careful.
It's no surprise then that the game of baseball is
relegated to the background. The real story exists in-between the innings, in
the struggles between good and evil, true love and lust, and loyalty and
ambition.
"The Natural" is beautiful to look at,
wonderfully acted, and Caleb Deschanel ("The Patriot") is brilliant in
his camerawork. Don't look at "The Natural" as a movie about baseball,
but a movie about life. As the saying goes, it's not rather you win or lose that
matters, but how you play the game. Life works that way, too.
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