42

The year was 1945 and America, along with the rest of the Allied Powers, celebrated the end of World War II due to a victory over the Axis Powers of Germany and Japan. As one conflict came to an end on the international stage, however, a new battle had reared its ugly head at home. That battle was racism. It had been almost 100 years since Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all slaves in America and ended the Civil War and yet segregation was still rampant throughout the country. There were still feelings of intolerance among the white community against the African American community. African Americans had to endure the fact that everything was separate - from bathrooms, seats in a restaurant, to even having to sit at the back of a bus or train. They also had to endure threats against them and sometimes even actual assaults.

This segregation had seeped into every aspect of American culture, even into sports. In Major League Baseball, for instance, African Americans were delegated to a separate league from the whites. It had been this way until a man named Branch Rickey decided enough was enough. Rickey wanted to break the unspoken color barrier and bring an African American player to the big leagues and play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Rickey's search for the perfect player to break this barrier brought him to a young, tough player by the name of Jackie Robinson.

42 is a harsh and powerful look at the effects of racism and brings to the forefront a dark blemish in America's history. I've seen several movies portraying this time period such as The Help, The Great Debaters, and Django Unchained to name a few; ones that tried to show the effects of racism and segregation. None of these movies prepared me for a stark, honest portrayal of the racism that went on during that time. This felt more real than I've ever experienced which consequently makes 42 a very tough film to watch. That being said, I firmly believe that 42 absolutely needs to be seen. My favorite part in the film is where Jackie is talking to Branch Rickey about signing up for the Dodgers, and he honestly asks him: "You want a player who has the guts to fight back?" and Rickey answers him: "No. I want a player who has the guts NOT to fight back." It's easy to want to "fight fire with fire" so to speak, but it takes a bigger person to stand in the face of adversity and not do anything in return but take the blows dealt them. I left the theater with a greater respect for Jackie Robinson than I had before. I do believe audience members with young children need to exercise caution before taking them to see 42 - due to the harshness of the portrayal of racism this is one movie where I don't recommend children under the age of at least 13, maybe even 15 see it. For those parents who do let their kids see it,  I urge them to talk with their kids both before and after the film to hopefully help them understand the gravity of the situation back then.