Review of Field of Dreams (1989) by Colin B — 28 Oct 2010

Don't listen to anyone who says this movie is about baseball. I couldn't care less about baseball, but I have been swept up in this film's true worth, which is to do with making dreams come true, and mostly those with no material value, but which mean far more.

If I tried to explain the plot I'd be wasting my time. I'll just say "Man owns a farm, hears a mysterious voice that says "If you build it, he will come", then feels compelled to build a baseball field for the ghost of an all time great baseball player who left the game in disgrace". You're not hooked, are you? Yet this is a truly magical film in ways that defy description. As the plot unfolds, Kevin Costner's character behaves in ways he can't explain, but knows he has to do everything he feels compelled to. There are many strange hints to what happens at the end, but I am one of many who was completely caught by that wondrous moment of revelation which left me and others weeping helplessly, and I always get an exquisite pleasure from those final 10 minutes, which I watch to have a good cry!

This film ultimately is for blokes who don't mind having their emotions stirred, but it is not about baseball.

I have read the book Shoeless Joe, on which this is based. Having fallen in love with the film, I feel that events are wrapped up in the wrong order in the book.