A FEELGOOD TRUE STORY : "MONEYBALL"

I am, as I write this entry (though probably not as you read it, if you get what I mean) back in my home country for a well-earned Easter break. Back home for Easter means, as we all pretty much know, spending time with the family and doing all those things we miss doing together. For me and Mom this is, specifically, shopping for DVDs. As we wondered down the aisles of the DVD store, desperately trying to limit our selection Mom actually pounced on this. “Oh look, this was an Oscar® film. And there’s Brad Pitt in it, I like him.” Pretty much a keeper. I silently questioned the wisdom of buying a film about a sport I know categorically nothing about, but the whole point of the exercise was to spend time together so I didn’t go all film theory on her. Thus when we sat down to watch the film, I had literally no expectations from it other than providing an excuse for me and Mom to exchange opinions concerning Brad Pitt. Now, up to a point, I wasn’t that wrong. There were bits of the film I understood categorically nothing about. But I don’t blame the film for that if you see what I mean, for a sports film to be a sports film there has to be a goodly amount of sports in it, I can accept that. The important bit is, however, that there was a large and emotionally engaging bit that I did understand, and here is a summary of that bit: Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is the general manager of the Oakland Athletics baseball team. It is not a job to be envied. The team is literally the bottom of the pile with very little in the way of funds and a whole set of scouts and managers whose opinions date from the previous century. The way things are going, the team is pretty much two steps away from being wiped off the map. And things seem pretty much set to go as they always have, that is in everyone’s opinion except Billy’s. Billy is a high-school graduate who has worked on nothing but baseball, but unlike the rest of the managerial team, he can spot a good idea when he sees it. And the good idea comes in the form of 25 year-old Yale graduate Peter Brand. Peter has some pretty interesting ideas as to how he and Billy can turn the Athletics around. If they can get literally everyone else to act on their ideas that is… They will, as we now know, end up changing baseball as we know it… Now what, I hear you ask, differentiates this film from your common or garden “one man against the system” film. Well, in my opinion it’s its realism and honesty. I mean, yes, the film is based on a true story. But you have true stories and true stories right, and then you have padding to make the characters look good. Not so here. Beane’s flaws and his erroneous decisions are openly portrayed here. Pitt gives Beane a certain quiet, yet dogged and determined character, the Beane Pitt portrays is not a man of many words, but once he is on to something he is not going to let go of it, pretty much like a “terrier on a trouser leg”. Then there is the unlikely team they bring together. You cannot help feeling for the guys, I don’t want to give too much of the plot away but hey, they are a minor team with not much money, you can imagine what kind of players they can afford – though mind you, there is a lot of method in their perceived madness. I am so glad that Hollywood, in some cases anyway, can give all we love about Hollywood (a good, uplifting story, big name stars like Brad Pitt and Philip Seymour Hoffmann who plays one of the biggest obstacles in Beane’s path) without actually whitewashing the place. If you see what I mean. Like I said, my lack of knowledge concerning baseball was more than a bit of a hindrance, but the producers had obviously thought of that because I could follow the plot even if I didn’t know the intricate technicalities of the matter. So I say go for it. Even if you don’t particularly like baseball. And definitely go for it if you do like it…