Directed by: Edward Zwick
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Michael Stuhlbarg, Peter Sarsgaard, Liev Schrieber
I know next to nothing about chess and, after watching Pawn Sacrifice, I still know next to nothing about it. Chess is not a cinematic game. Most people watching the final showdown between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky will not have any clue what is happening, unless you are a chess grandmaster. Pawn Sacrifice is not really about Bobby Fischer's 1972 World Chess Championship win over Spassky, which made Fischer a national hero. Instead, it focuses on Fischer's ever declining mental health. His paranoid delusions took hold early. Chess was his only way to concentrate on something else. He happened to be a genius at it, which was both a blessing and a curse. Mostly a curse.
Fischer's bizarre behavior was in full bloom during his match with Spassky, which occurred during the Cold War and was seen as an opportunity for an American to prove superiority in a game the Soviets previously dominated. The match was nearly called off because of Fischer's increasingly odd demands, which included moving the game to a recreation room with no audience. Most people thought this was gamesmanship, but those in Fischer's inner circle knew otherwise. Fischer's mentor turned Catholic priest Bill Lombardy (Sarsgaard) recognized Bobby's need for treatment. Fischer's lawyer/manager Paul Marshall (Stuhlbarg) turned a blind eye, instead focusing on the big payday the match will inevitably bring.
For Fischer, paranoia was a family trait. His mother was a Communist party member and may or may not have been under surveillance by some agency. It is not clear whether this was real or part of Bobby's delusions. He was forever suspicious that he was being watched and would take apart telephones to see if they were bugged. He took up chess and excelled at it, becoming the world's youngest grandmaster and the first significant American threat to Soviet dominance in chess. However, he did not make things easy on himself or those who loved him, which was a number that was constantly dwindling. He was hostile, petulant, and demanding; forever threatening to pull out of tournaments over the slightest perceived infraction.
Father Bill suspected this behavior masked a greater fear. ("He is not afraid of losing. He is afraid of what will happen if he wins") This is perceptive thinking from a chess player who was trained to continually see one or two moves ahead. If Bobby wins the World Championship, there are no worlds left to conquer and he will be alone with his scary thoughts and even scarier behavior. Without a goal, where would this leave him?
Pawn Sacrifice indeed shows chess being played and strategies being implemented. Fischer would play games thousands of times over in his head to prepare for anything, but finds this still may not be enough. Unless you play chess, Pawn Sacrifice is not likely to convert you into a chess lover. The moves described by Fischer to Lombardy as preparation may as well be in Klingon to me, but the movie wisely focuses on its strengths, which are the performances and seeing Fischer's true nature. Fischer was anti-Communist and anti-Semitic, which is odd considering his Jewish heritage which he denounced.
Maguire, who also served as producer, thankfully does not attempt to turn Fischer into a misunderstood or sympathetic hero. He shows Fischer warts and all. We are not expected to like him or understand him. We are expected to see him from the outside and shake our heads as we see his mental health deteriorating before our eyes. After his celebrated win, Fischer's mental faculties only got worse. He would abandon his championship and wander Europe nearly penniless. This was a man who was briefly a national hero, but it wasn't because he was beloved. He was indeed a pawn in America's game of one-upmanship over the Soviets. The public was so desperate to gain a small victory over the Soviets that they ignored the fact that Fischer should not have been lauded as a hero. He never saw himself as one.
Fischer died in 2008 in Iceland, which was where he won the World Championship from Spassky and was the only country that would grant him citizenship. He was a fugitive in his home country for violating international sanctions by playing Spassky in a 1992 rematch in war-torn Yugoslavia. He was booted out of other countries due to his financial and legal troubles. He looked unkempt and wild-eyed, even arrested for vagrancy at one time and lived out his life in relative seclusion. Upon settling in Iceland, he held a press conference attended by ESPN reporter Jeremy Schaap, son of the legendary sportswriter Dick Schaap.
During the press conference, Fischer chided Jeremy about an article Dick Schaap wrote in which he stated allegedly, "Bobby Fischer doesn't have a sane bone in his body." Jeremy replied, "Frankly, nothing here today would disprove anything he said."
Fischer's bizarre behavior was in full bloom during his match with Spassky, which occurred during the Cold War and was seen as an opportunity for an American to prove superiority in a game the Soviets previously dominated. The match was nearly called off because of Fischer's increasingly odd demands, which included moving the game to a recreation room with no audience. Most people thought this was gamesmanship, but those in Fischer's inner circle knew otherwise. Fischer's mentor turned Catholic priest Bill Lombardy (Sarsgaard) recognized Bobby's need for treatment. Fischer's lawyer/manager Paul Marshall (Stuhlbarg) turned a blind eye, instead focusing on the big payday the match will inevitably bring.
For Fischer, paranoia was a family trait. His mother was a Communist party member and may or may not have been under surveillance by some agency. It is not clear whether this was real or part of Bobby's delusions. He was forever suspicious that he was being watched and would take apart telephones to see if they were bugged. He took up chess and excelled at it, becoming the world's youngest grandmaster and the first significant American threat to Soviet dominance in chess. However, he did not make things easy on himself or those who loved him, which was a number that was constantly dwindling. He was hostile, petulant, and demanding; forever threatening to pull out of tournaments over the slightest perceived infraction.
Father Bill suspected this behavior masked a greater fear. ("He is not afraid of losing. He is afraid of what will happen if he wins") This is perceptive thinking from a chess player who was trained to continually see one or two moves ahead. If Bobby wins the World Championship, there are no worlds left to conquer and he will be alone with his scary thoughts and even scarier behavior. Without a goal, where would this leave him?
Pawn Sacrifice indeed shows chess being played and strategies being implemented. Fischer would play games thousands of times over in his head to prepare for anything, but finds this still may not be enough. Unless you play chess, Pawn Sacrifice is not likely to convert you into a chess lover. The moves described by Fischer to Lombardy as preparation may as well be in Klingon to me, but the movie wisely focuses on its strengths, which are the performances and seeing Fischer's true nature. Fischer was anti-Communist and anti-Semitic, which is odd considering his Jewish heritage which he denounced.
Maguire, who also served as producer, thankfully does not attempt to turn Fischer into a misunderstood or sympathetic hero. He shows Fischer warts and all. We are not expected to like him or understand him. We are expected to see him from the outside and shake our heads as we see his mental health deteriorating before our eyes. After his celebrated win, Fischer's mental faculties only got worse. He would abandon his championship and wander Europe nearly penniless. This was a man who was briefly a national hero, but it wasn't because he was beloved. He was indeed a pawn in America's game of one-upmanship over the Soviets. The public was so desperate to gain a small victory over the Soviets that they ignored the fact that Fischer should not have been lauded as a hero. He never saw himself as one.
Fischer died in 2008 in Iceland, which was where he won the World Championship from Spassky and was the only country that would grant him citizenship. He was a fugitive in his home country for violating international sanctions by playing Spassky in a 1992 rematch in war-torn Yugoslavia. He was booted out of other countries due to his financial and legal troubles. He looked unkempt and wild-eyed, even arrested for vagrancy at one time and lived out his life in relative seclusion. Upon settling in Iceland, he held a press conference attended by ESPN reporter Jeremy Schaap, son of the legendary sportswriter Dick Schaap.
During the press conference, Fischer chided Jeremy about an article Dick Schaap wrote in which he stated allegedly, "Bobby Fischer doesn't have a sane bone in his body." Jeremy replied, "Frankly, nothing here today would disprove anything he said."
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