Directed by: Robert Redford
Starring: Matt Damon, Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Bruce McGill, J. Michael Moncrief, Jack Lemmon, Joel Gretsch
Robert Redford's The Legend of Bagger Vance is reminiscent of his own A River Runs Through It (1992). Both are studies of men who learn life's lessons and are healed through doing what they do best. In Bagger Vance, it is golf. Golf is a game of efficiency in every aspect, from the swing of the club to the ultimate goal of sinking the ball in the cup in fewer strokes than your opponents.
There are no teammates. It is just the golfer against the world...and himself.
Matt Damon stars as Rannulph Junuh, a golf wunderkind from Savannah, GA who would have become Bobby Jones had World War I not interfered. He went to war and came back broken. The experience scarred him to the point that he never wanted to do anything but drink and play cards. He was once in love with Adele Invergordon (Theron), daughter of the richest man in town who commits suicide after the stock market crashes. Broke and stuck with a new golf course her father built but no one plays on, Adele dreams up a plan to bring a golf exhibition to Savannah. The players? Jones and Walter Hagen (McGill), an 11-time major champion. She persuades both men to play for the $10,000 prize and manages to lure her former flame Junuh out of retirement so the town can have a rooting interest.
Since Junuh hasn't swung a club in years, he can not get himself right until one night Bagger Vance (Smith) appears out of nowhere and into his life. He offers to be Junuh's caddy, but he provides greater insight than just what club to use and how to play the holes. He has an instinct for saying the right things at the right time. We sense some of this advice is not just aimed for winning a tournament. Who is this mysterious Vance? Is he a person? A spirit? A guardian angel? The movie leaves that for us to decide. Whatever he is, he sure helps Junuh and makes an impression on a 10-year old boy named Hardy (Moncrief), Junuh's biggest supporter.
The golf tournament is a study in styles. Jones and Hagen are both golf superstars, but neither is arrogant nor dismissive of Junuh. They respect the game too much to disrespect their opponents. Hagen is more extravagant, while Jones is quiet and reserved. Their games reflect their personalities. Junuh is 12 strokes behind these titans after the first day, but we know he is not out of it.
Who wins the tournament is not as important as how Junuh's life is forever changed. He learns to put away the past and just focus. Golf is about focus and concentration. If you have neither, the game can be unbelievably frustrating. Ask anyone who has ever two-putted on the green. Redford uses golf as a metaphor for improving by life by being focused and efficient. There should not wasted time or motion. As Bagger Vance himself says, "Golf isn't a game to be won, only played." We know he is talking about life itself.
The Legend of Bagger Vance looks and sounds beautiful. I especially liked the finale in which the final hole was played at dusk and car lights were illuminating the area. The golf course is lush, but foreboding. Games live and die on each hole and its own individual hazards. The performances are all the more effective for being quiet and internalized. We know what they're feeling with just the right economy of words. They seemed to have taken Bagger's message to heart too.
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