The
Legend of Bagger Vance, based on the novel by Steven
Pressfield, probably makes more sense if you believe that
angels come to the earth from time to time with an assignment
to bring joy to others while themselves having a good time
in the process. Indeed, "Bagger" appears to be an Americanization
of "Bhagavad," the Hindu word for God, though Bagger Vance
in the movie plays the role of a Krishna giving counsel to
someone who needs to find himself. The fictional story centers
around the life of Rannulph Junuh (played by Matt Damon),
a rich boy who won the Georgia Open in 1916, became the fiancée
of Adele Invergordon (played by Charlize Theron), the daughter
of the richest man in Savannah, went to war in 1917, survived
an attack that killed all the men in his unit, was awarded
the Congressional Medal of Honor and was promoted to the rank
of captain, but suffered from post-traumatic stress and disappeared
thereafter. When Junuh suddenly returns to Savannah in 1930,
he is an alcoholic. Adele’s father has died, leaving an estate
of more land than liquid assets. Indeed, the estate includes
a golf course and hotel that were ready for business just
in time for the Great Depression. To turn the fixed assets
into cash, Adele decides to organize a golf tournament, featuring
Bobby Jones (played by Joel Gretsch) and Walter Hagen (played
by Bruce McGill), the two greatest golfers of the day. The
Savannah elite, however, will not endorse the venture unless
a Savannahan is involved in the tournament. At a town meeting,
ten-year-old Hardy Greaves (played by J. Michael Moncrief)
blurts out that Junuh could be enlisted. The Savannah elite,
Adele, and Hardy then try to get Junuh to stop drinking and
start playing golf again, but he declines. After they leave,
he starts to hit a few golf balls in the dark when suddenly
Bagger Vance (played by Will Smith) appears and offers to
be his caddy. Junuh tries to leave town to get away from the
pressure, but townspeople spot him in his car, surround him,
and treat him like a celebrity, so he finally decides to enter
the tournament. Bagger Vance’s mission from this point is
to turn the alcoholic into a champ; he first tries reverse
psychology, and later he imparts to Junuh a sense of euphoria
about the game, and then about the joy of life itself. Junuh
wins the tournament after turning down the opportunity to
cheat, and he and Adele are reconciled, but Bagger Vance (who
only wanted $5 for caddying) walks away, his mission completed.
At the end of the film, an elderly Hardy Greaves (played by
Jack Lemmon, who provides a surplus of voiceovers) is playing
golf, which he says is "a game that you cannot win but just
play." Since Bagger Vance is black, some may interpret the
film as depicting blacks happily subordinated to whites; but
I feel that the spiritual focus cancels the racial angle,
as the angel is black, not white. Directed by Robert Redford,
The Legend of Bagger Vance has the familiar
Redfordian message that Americans should go out of doors to
enjoy nature more, though the film briefly hints that the
construction of the golf course despoiled nature, as is often
the case, so the environmental message is mixed. Nevertheless,
The Legend of Bagger Vance is a feel-good movie
that uses the story as a paradigm for life, perhaps leaving
filmviewers more hopeful than before of the possibility that
angels will appear on the path of our lives if we ever get
lost. MH
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