Video Review
by
Marilyn Robitaille |
 |
Last Updated 11/05/01
Email: robitai@our-town.com
The Natural
I don't know about the rest of you, but in these uncertain times,
I've found that going about my old routine makes things feel almost normal. Once cool fall weather sets in, one of our rituals
calls for renting a Thursday night movie and settling down in the recliner with a bowl of
popcorn. Maybe it is just a momentary escape
from CNN, but I've discovered that making a careful selection has become all-important. I want a movie that completely sweeps me away to
another place and time, a world away from September 11.
Call me Pollyanna, but I don't want my Thursday night getaway to be about
murder and mayhem or deranged killers. I don't want violence to become the norm. So, faced
with the Thursday night movie selection, and determined not to revisit the movies I've
seen a hundred times before, I asked a friend for a recommendation. He knew exactly what I
needed. Robert Redford's "The
Natural." I didn't see it in 1984,
probably because that was a year of great distractions.
I remembered references to "Redford's baseball movie," but beyond
that, I had no expectations.
Based on a novel by Bernard Malamud and set, for the most part, in the pre-war
years of the early 40s, "The Natural" follows the career and life of Roy Hobbs
(Robert Redford). It was clear from his youth
that he had a natural, almost divine talent to play baseball. Driven by optimism and
promise, young Hobbs sets out to win fame, fortune, and to break every record. His youthful naiveté and the temptations of a
mysterious woman cause his destiny to take an unbidden and strange turn. It's a long time
before his life gets back on track. This film has
beautiful art direction demonstrated throughout by skillful camera techniques. Lightening becomes a symbolic motif, with
landscape scenes showcasing the powerful energy and contrasting quieter moments. The numerous baseball shots are constructed with
sensitive timing, so that the movie's pace doesn't wear thin from too much baseball
footage. You don't have to be a baseball fan
to enjoy that all-important element of the movie. The women in Hobbs's life carry an
interesting and important part of the story line. Glenn Close plays Iris Gaines, the girl
Hobbs left behind. She has a simple charm
and unassuming manner, but her strength is iron. She
has kind of restrained dignity that gives her surprising situation credibility. Kim Basinger gives an equally measured performance
as Iris Gaines's foil, the salacious Memo Paris. Tension builds because it's just not
clear that Hobbs has the kind of vision to know about Memo's motives. Has he learned from
his past mistakes? Redford always plays Redford to some extent, but here that quiet
composure peppered with those long silent spaces works well. Redford's enigmatic smile
reveals little about what's going on behind it. Hobbs has a past when he makes a comeback
as a middle-aged rookie to fulfill his dreams. It's just that he's been asking for the
wrong blessings when destiny leads him to the better ones.
"The Natural" isn't a hurried movie, so don't expect instant baseball
action. Let its story unfold leisurely,
follow Roy Hobbs onto the field, and watch his destiny take him to places he never foresaw
or even dreamed.
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