Ray (Kevin Costner) an Iowa farmer, was walking in his field when “the voice” first speaks to him. Assuming he is
going a bit crazy, Ray ignores the voices, until he sees a vision of a baseball
field in his valuable cornfield and hears “if you build it, they will come”.
With the support of his wife Annie (Amy Madigan) he does the unthinkable and
builds a baseball field on his farm. After seeing a vision of baseball legend
Shoeless Joe Jackson in his field, Ray thinks he has done what he was supposed
to, until the voice kept nudging him on. The promptings take him to some
unexpected places and people.
Anyone thinking this is just a
baseball film will quickly learn it uses baseball more as a connection between
Ray and his youth; the story is really about faith, dreams, loss and the
relationship of family and all of its complexities. The acting is very natural
and engaging to watch with some pretty great actors too, like Ray Liotta and
James Earl Jones just to name a couple. You may find yourself wondering how
this preposterous idea for a film actually works but it does and quite
wonderfully. I found myself very invested in Ray following the clues and
guidance by the mystery voice and really how much faith he showed in doing so.
Ray was about to lose his farm but he blindly followed anyway to bring peace to
others and ultimately himself too. When Terrance Mann (Jones) delivers his
“People will come” speech to Ray it gives the audience a sense as to why
baseball was selected as the backdrop. A great magical movie!
Motherly Advice: Definitely turn
your Language and Blasphemy filters on High as to cut out the numerous
unpleasant words. The most you will see with your Mushy and Nudity filters on
high is Ray and his wife innocently lying in bed where he does have his shirt
off and a goodnight kiss is exchanged. A reference to their premarital days by
Ray refers to him having “smoked some grass”. Annie gets into it with another
parent at a PTA meeting where they have a name calling debate. Karin, Ray and
Annie’s daughter, falls off the bleachers while watching a game and chokes on a
hot dog, no worries though she is just fine after help from a doctor.
Appropriate for ages 8 and up and honestly I wouldn’t go much younger because
the depth of the story wouldn’t be understood.
Hannah – In the 90’s while on a
family trip to Iowa we took a detour and visited the movie site!
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