| Reel Reflections: A Movie With A Catch |
| Written by Petra Plucenik | ||||||
 “If you build it, he will come.”The loud whisper stops the farmer in his tracks as he strolls between the tall corn stalks. He hears it again. And again. He has no idea what to build or who will come. Then he looks out over the field and has a clear vision of a baseball diamond, beautifully carved out of his Iowa corn field. None of this makes any sense, to him or anyone else he talks to about it. Of course, it’s only a movie. But some movies, like Kevin Costner’s 1989 classic Field of Dreams, cast a reflection on many of our real-life happenings. What happens when faith and reason collide? How would you handle it? In your head, you can come up with all kinds of reasons why something can’t possibly make any sense. It can be totally illogical, yet your heart says something quite different. It might be screaming for adventure. There’s a willingness to take a risk, even if you don’t fully understand it. Deep within there is a knowing, an assurance that even though something might not physically exist yet, before long, it’s all you can think about. What I’ve just described is called passion. And that’s what dreams are made of. I don’t watch ESPN Classic very much. My husband watches it enough for both of us. But recently the announcers began counting down the greatest sports movies of all time. My 14-year-old son and I laughed and cried together as we watched Hoosiers for the first time. It was voted the #1 sports movie of all time. Field of Dreams was rated #3, but it was not the first time we saw it. Many men, like my husband, love this movie. Why? Maybe it’s the scene in which James Earl Jones’s character, Terrance Mann, passionately describes the magic of baseball and how it transports us to a simpler time.But I think more men are touched by the final scenes on the field, with Costner’s character, Ray Kinsella, and his father. Not many movie scenes can make tough athletes weep like little children. This one does. Because the story is not really about baseball at all. It’s much deeper. Ray Kinsella, the corn farmer who hears the voices in the movie, seems to have it all: A great wife who is his best friend, a beautiful daughter, and rich farmland. Yet, he is tormented. It’s not an obvious torment—more hidden and subtle. There is a particular scene in which Ray is heading home from a trip to Minnesota. Terrance is his new partner in this directionless adventure and while talking, he asks, “What happened with your father?” Ray replies, “He never made it as a ballplayer so he tried to get his son to make it for him. By the time I was 10, playing baseball got to be like eating vegetables or taking the garbage out. At 14, I started to refuse. Can you believe that? Refusing to have a catch with your father? When I turned 17, I packed my things, said something awful and left. After a while, I wanted to come home, but didn’t know how. I made it back for the funeral, though.” Through this statement, we catch a glimpse of Ray’s struggle—the deep regret of making a hurtful statement and never getting the chance to take it back. His dad’s death left him feeling powerless with no hope of reconciliation. Toward the end of the movie, there is a magical scene in which Ray looks out onto the field and sees his dad as a young rookie. Suddenly he realizes what all of those whispering messages mean. “If you build it, he will come. Ease his pain. Go the distance.” They stand there awkwardly looking at each other. Ray recognizes his dad, but his dad doesn’t seem to know Ray is his son.Ray now sees his dad in a whole new light. John Kinsella, a young man filled with a sense of wonder, is nothing like the man Ray remembers as his father. As they stand there on the field, Ray asks, “Hey, dad, you wanna have a catch?” What I believe he was really saying was, “I’m sorry dad, I realize now how much I miss our time together.” The game of “catch” serves as a fitting metaphor for life. It’s about giving and receiving. No conditions. No standards to measure up to. Just plain and simple fun. There are no words in that final scene, but the healing we witness speaks volumes. Nothing, not even death, can keep us from finding peace and reconciliation in our hearts. Sometimes it takes a good old movie to remind us. Bookmark with:
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