Moneyball: Game called life

February 29, 2012 04:24 pm | Updated 04:26 pm IST

BIG SCREEN

Movie: Moneyball

Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill

“Moneyball”, which bagged six Oscar nominations, though it didn't win any, shows us how some smart screenwriting, can create magic out of a book, based on a rather mundane subject like, the economics of baseball.

True to life

This Brad Pitt-starrer, tells the story of the 2002 season in the American baseball league, and has enough depth to be classified as an outstanding movie.

When a film is based on a true story, there is a certain level of honesty that is brought along. “Moneyball” does the same. It depicts how Billy Bean, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, takes them to a record streak of 20 wins, despite having a ridiculously low budget. Billy takes the help of an economics graduate from Yale, who applies his uncanny methods of statistical analysis.

Billy's past, in which he had miserably failed as a player despite being hailed as a rare talent, by the experts, adds another dimension to the story. That failure serves as an inspiration for Billy, to defy the conventional baseball wisdom, later.

Billy had very low expectations set for him, by the team management, since they were unable to raise the budget.

Still, the zeal to succeed drives him forward. In the climax, Peter tells Billy, that the huge amount of money that was offered, tells him that he is worth it, which is one of the best, and the most meaningful dialogues of the movie.

“Moneyball” makes you wonder about the intricate beauty of life, even though, from a perspective of sports. The quote shown at the beginning, ‘It's amazing how much you don't know about the game that you've been playing all your life', literally comes alive, towards the end of the movie. We start to realise, how much clueless we remain, about life, no matter however rational and reasonable we try to be.

It's highly probable that the baseball jargon discourages you, in enjoying this film, to the fullest, considering the fact that baseball is not a popular sport, in our part of the world.

Bottomline: A suave and exceedingly well written sports drama.

SUDEEP NAIR C., Assistant systems engineer, TCS

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.