Here is an addition to the very delayed movie reviews. I suspected a sentimental sports movie when my wife and I started watching The Natural but I didn’t expect an attempt at the depiction of an ancient myth in the garb of the 20th century American Pastime.
From the beginning of the movie Roy Hobbs, played masterfully by Robert Redford, is not just a good baseball player but depicted more like the demi-gods of Greek literature. He doesn’t just throw a perfect strike as a 10 year old, he blows through the barn wall with his fast ball.
He defeats the Whammer (a thinly veiled Babe Ruth) with 3 perfect pitches like Odysseus tricks the Cyclops. His first big hit literally knocks the leather off of the ball. A super human feat!
When he starts hitting home runs in the majors he doesn’t just knock them out of the park but each seems to rain down destruction on the infrastructure of the stadium. The clock is smashed, the lights explode, and the windows are no match for his precision. Even his bat seems to be delivered by the gods, through a lightning strike on a tree on his hometown farm. And with the making of the bat I am reminded of the shield being described in the Iliad or the Aeneid.
Within the first 10 minutes of the movie, the deadly dame (literally it turns out), is quoting Homer and I thought it was just a way to differentiate her from the blue collar baseball player. But now I see it as a small cue that this movie was doing something different, putting a mythos to a favorite pasttime of America.
Even in the end of the movie, when Hobbs (the Hero), must sacrifice himself for the virtuous end, striving to win the baseball game despite the machinations of the owners, he does it with stoicism (a Greek virtue). He rounds the bases not with elation but with an understanding that he has done the honorable thing. His face does not betray an excitement or relief, just a satisfaction unmoved by the fireworks, those brought on by his wielding the baseball bat.
And that is the culmination of the hero’s journey in The Natural. Hobbs is tempted by vice but in the end he takes the route of the ancient heroes and uses his skills for the pursuit of virtue and honor.
I expected a fun sports movie but I was given something a little more magical. A valiant attempt at telling a different type of story. I would recommend.