Ugh. Here we go again. Somebody's bent out of shape because a movie doesn't follow the real events closely enough.
It is not the function of the dramatic form to put real life up on the stage or screen. It is the function of the dramatic form to help "find the fable" hidden inside every life, or every event. That's how and why movies and plays "work," how they can seem "truer" to an audience than a mere exposition of fact ever could. As Stella Adler said, "In the drama, any 'fact' which has not passed through the imagination is a lie."
So, this reimagining is not just allowed, it is REQUIRED, and has been the function of dramatic art since the moment somebody picked up a mask and pretended to be somebody else - NOT "the real person" or the "real god" or whatever - but their imagined representation of that reality.
Come on, Hollywood didn't invent this process; they just figured out how to make it pay really well (and maybe that's what pisses people off, to which I say, "Oh, grow up.")
Good lord, read the ancient Greeks. Read your Shakespeare. Who the hell would rather have somebody up there reading the facts about Henry V when we have Shakespeare's "St. Crispian" speech instead? In two hours, Shakespeare lights up an idea of Henry V, moreso than any hundred textbooks, and he's quicker about it too. Agree or disagree, you can't argue it's utility - and then people can go away and think about it, discuss it, ultimately be a little closer to that spirit even if they're further away from its "facts."
And, of course, it's the height of absurdity to poke at a film that one hasn't even SEEN. Jesus.
The really cool thing about "The Final Season" (and yes, I've seen it) is that it's not JUST about Norway baseball. It's true - that mere story is just one of many, really; you can find stories like it in other places. What the movie is REALLY about is, "This is what happens when you depose a king." Or whatever; see the movie, think about it, and come up with your own description. The point is that, precisely because it does not adhere slavishly to "facts," the story's deeper, more important aspects are a bit closer to the surface, those things that should have resonance long after a "fact" has dissolved into newspaper ink.
I wish I could remember who said this, but the quote goes, "Real life is all well and good; it is the function of art to give it form."
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bspirit1
17 years ago
thank you navarre, well put.
it's amazing to me that those who are being so negative about the movie are the ones who haven't seen the movie! While those of us who HAVE seen the movie are standing behind it. I was with 3 high school kids from the Central Los Angeles area, 2 of which play high school baseball. They almost NEVER sat back in their seat for the entire movie. They LOVED it!! They're not movie critics, they are inner city high school baseball players. A movie like this doesn't come along too often. A whole generation has grown up since that other baseball movie was shot back in Iowa.
I'm looking forward to October! (and it's not because the Angels will win again!)
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