There are no truer fans of Major League Baseball who are not familiar with the significant impact that Jackie Robinson, one of the earliest African American baseball players to be promoted up to the white major league baseball clubs, and the first African American baseball player to be playing in the modern era of professional Major League baseball had on the advancement and integration of African Americans in the United States. This documentary illustrates through many hours of actual historical footage the baseball records that Jackie Robinson contributed to such as earning a title shot in the World Series six times (6) during the ten (10) years Jackie played for the Brooklyn Dodgers as well as winning the 1955 World Series baseball title for then President and General Manager Branch Rickey and the Brooklyn Dodgers. More importantly the two narrators of this documentary, namely the top rated Hollywood actors Jamie Foxx and David Keith, outlined Jackie's life story from his birth and hometown of Cairo Georgia through his rise in and out of baseball with the many challenges and controversies as Jackie Robinson paved the way for racial integration in baseball as well as his active involvement with the civil rights movement.
Jackie Robinson started with the Negro Baseball League and as the stars would align so would the business relationship and friendship between the white President and General Manager Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers as he signed Jackie Robinson to their International League farm club the Montreal Royals in 1945.
Key to this documentary are the many real and valued insights we are grateful for from Jackie's beautiful wife Rachel who shares with us the audience how Jackie and Rachel (and eventually their 3 children) had to cope with the constant racial discrimination they were exposed to daily. Rachel Robinson is an educated and articulate black woman and would seem to be a perfect match for her athlete and proud black husband Jackie Robinson. In fact the documentary outlines that the Brooklyn Dodgers President and General Manager Branch Rickey insisted that if Jackie was to be the first to successfully break the color barrier that existed in Major League Baseball he would need a strong and patient woman by his side and he encouraged Jackie and Rachel to get married to make it easier to get through the many racial challenges that they were sure to encounter over the next several years. Also contributing their own insight was two of the three Robinson children and how they expressed their pride for both of their parents shone through brightly as they described their own recollections of their childhood as black children in mainly a white dominated world.
In the latter half of the documentary we are provided with the complexities of life as an African American in the mid 1950's- 1960's, and Jackie's involvement in his post-baseball life activities such as his businesses, political campaigns, the civil rights movement and his interaction with his family. I felt the documentary gives us an extremely good insight in to who Jackie Robinson was during the heyday of his professional baseball career as well as how he tried to gracefully bring the world into the 21st century and continue breaking down any and all walls that reflected race or religion. Jackie Robinson's family life was not without its own personal demons as they struggled with their eldest son's Jackie Jr. drug addiction and eventual death in a tragic car accident. Yes there have been a few biographical movies that have been produced on the life of the late and great Jackie Robinson, but if you really want to gain some insight into "WHO THE MAN" Jackie Robinson was, this documentary is a necessity as Rachel Robinson explains how her 53 year old diabetic husband made it his last dash to not steal home but to stay home and reach his arms out to Rachel to tell her he loved her before he died of a fatal heart attack brought upon by years of suffering with diabetes.
Jackie Robinson was a black man, a proud father, the first African American professional Major League Baseball player in the modern era, who tried to make the world a better place for all races. It is a must see if you are a fan Jackie Robinson or of baseball and if you would like to learn more about the struggles of the civil rights movement.
Jackie Robinson's jersey number was 42 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, but the best I can do in rating this film on the life of the great Jackie Robinson is a perfect 10 for 10! Don't miss seeing it!!
