Ken Burns’ recent four-hour documentary miniseries “Jackie Robinson” might be his best work. But don’t go into it with any preconceived notions, because it is not the safe portrait of Robinson, MLB or American civil rights that we are used to seeing.
Burns, the Oscar nominated and Emmy award winning filmmaker, made the film for PBS with help from his daughter Sarah Burns and son-in-law David McMahon.
It has the historical context of most of his previous work like “The Civil War” and the social commentary of his film “The Central Park Five.”
One thing that stands out is the names who speak openly on Robinson’s life and its impact on present-day society. Barack Obama appears in the opening moments of the film, you later hear from the likes of Michelle Obama, Harry Belafonte and Tom Brokaw, and Jamie Foxx does the voice-overs for Robinson’s letters and writings.
The story is as much about the interesting narratives throughout Robinson’s family as it is his personal story. Jackie’s older brother Mack Robinson ran in the Berlin, Olympics, winning a silver medal in the 200 meters finishing behind only Jesse Owens. Yet when Mack returned he could only find work as a street sweeper. That demonstrates what the realities were for black athletes before Robinson shattered the colour barrier of America’s pastime. Jackie’s struggles with his own son help paint the picture of how vulnerable all blacks were to the pitfalls of systemic disadvantages. By far and away the most raw and riveting scenes were of Robinson talking about his family.
What the film isn’t is the high-paced energetic sports documentary that we’ve grown accustomed to in recent years. You will not mistake this for an ESPN Films or HBO Sports production. It is slow and plodding. It tells the story primarily with archival footage and diary entries. It’s not bad, it’s just different. No need to rush when you can slow cook a story so great and nuanced like Robinson’s. You just need to adjust your expectations.
The film has two great victories. One is it takes away some of the false heroism and over-the-top mythology we apply when talking about Robinson. The film calls into question whether or not the much-celebrated moment of Pee Wee Reese putting his arm around Robinson actually ever happened. Yes, there is a statue of it, but there is no empirical record to prove it really happened.
Two, it tells the rapidly changing times of the 1940s-60s through the eyes and experiences of Robinson. You’re left learning more about the Dodgers moving to L.A., the march on Washington, the bombing of the 16th street Baptist Church, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War all through the ways they touched Robinson or Robinson touched them.
Unlike a scripted movie character, the Robinson that Burns portrays has duality. To start his career he’s docile which is the story that’s often told. Burns allows you to see the more irritated, retaliatory Robinson story later in his career. We assume and imagine the overt racism, but this film examines the micro-aggressions that made his life death by a thousand cuts even though he lived in the much more evolved north. We always reference him as a second baseman, but you are reminded he started his career at first and with limited mobility late in his career was a utility guy playing everywhere.
In the 1940s Robinson’s the model of black masculinity and by the 1960s he’s seen as an Uncle Tom in relation to the modern-day black athletes like John Carlos, Tommy Smith and Jim Brown. The story’s more about how times changed than how Robinson did. His endorsement of Nixon, Republican political leanings and criticism of Muhammad Ali for not enlisting in the Vietnam war are stories that aren’t often told because they don’t place Jackie Robinson in a neat, comfortable box.
My sole really criticism would be as a selfish Canadian I would have liked to hear and see more of his time in Montreal with the Royals. Having said that, I don’t envy the challenge of charting a lifetime in two two-hour parts.
It is a marathon of cinema that values education over entertainment. It’s certainly not your father’s Jackie Robinson story. But it will help you put in context the times of your grandfather through the lens of Robinson.
