Anthony's Film Review - Field of Dreams (1989)

An interestingly original movie centering on baseball...

The 1989 film Field of Dreams simultaneously falls into three genres: drama, sports, and fantasy. You could also call it a sentimental spiritual film. It is rather surprising for me to describe a sports movie as spiritual, but that's what makes it rather original. Then again, sports do feel spiritual, whether you are the athlete immersed in the sport or the spectator watching the action from a distance. In a nutshell, what you have here is a spiritual journey surrounding the sport of baseball, one that does not explain the origin of the supernatural events that occur, but just presents the interesting consequences.

Kevin Costner plays an Iowa corn farmer named Ray Kinsella, who, one night, hears a strange whispering voice telling him, "If you build it, he will come." Naturally, two questions come to mind. Build what? And who will come in response? But Ray ultimately decides to do it, because he doesn't want to have a too-ordinary life without having done anything special or spontaneous. He soon has a vision of what he must build: a baseball field in the middle of the corn field. So then he plows the corn and builds the baseball field.

This is something that his wife Annie, played by Amy Madigan, is supportive of at first. But she also sees the immediate financial impact of building this baseball field: less crop revenue, to the point of losing money on the farm. But Ray pushes forward, because he feels it is leading to something greater. That's because something amazing happens. Shoeless Joe Jackson, a deceased baseball player for the Chicago White Sox, appears on the field, as if alive and well even if he is, presumably, a spirit. Later, the rest of his team comes to the field.

What Ray has built is a magical baseball field where baseball players of the past return to play the game. But not to relive the games they played. Rather, they play the game they didn't play when alive but always dreamt of playing. The title of this movie refers to how this baseball is a place for baseball players to live out the dreams that never came true for them. The field is like a heaven built by Ray as if he were a god. Naturally, one wonders if anyone else from the baseball world would like to come to this field.

That's when more supernatural events occur. Not just in the form of a voice that Ray hears, but in other ways, too. Ray is ultimately compelled to journey across America and seek out two other individuals: a writer named Terence Mann (played by James Earl Jones) and a doctor named Arthur Wright (played by Burt Lancaster). Their connections to baseball may not be fully clear right away, but you know they'll be revealed. And boy, it's satisfying the way it unfolds.

Field of Dreams is a movie that can appeal to people who are not fans of baseball just as much as those who are enthusiasts of the game. If you love baseball, you can ask yourself which baseball players from before your time you would like to meet. Even if you're not, you can still relate to the imaginary situation of meeting someone who is dead. On top of all of this, this magical baseball field is, at least to me, a metaphor for self-fulfillment through fulfillment of others' wishes. It's a beautiful and touching theme.

That said, this isn't a movie that is epic in scope or has some spectacular climax. It's fairly simple from beginning to end. But sometimes less and more, and that's certainly the case with Field of Dreams. It's a heartfelt sports fantasy that goes beyond baseball. Is it the greatest baseball movie ever? I don't know. Is it one of the best movies overall? No, but it's still good, because it does what a good film should do: appeal to the heart, as well as the human spirit.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Field of Dreams, visit the Internet Movie Database.