Reflections on The Natural

Robert Redford died last month, at the age of 89. He’s long been one of our favorite actors, so Harry and I have been rewatching some of his movies. There are so many great ones, but my favorite is The Natural.

I’m not a baseball fan, so it’s pretty unusual for me to like a baseball movie. But this one is different. Though I’ve probably seen it ten times over the years (it was filmed in 1984), I cry every single time I watch it.

Randy Newman’s beautiful score, the gorgeous (and symbolic) use of light and dark in the film, and—most of all—the message of the story touches my soul. The Natural is based on a novel by Bernard Malamud. Loosely based. Malamud was an existentialist, a philosophy grounded in the individual’s responsibility to make his or her own meanings and values, since life has no intrinsic meaning. A bleak perspective on the human condition.

Redford’s film is far from that.

The story is this: A phenomenally gifted, young baseball player, Roy Hobbs, travels to Chicago to meet with the Cubs, hoping to be drafted. But before the meeting, he is shot by a deeply disturbed woman, and it’s only after many years that he tries to get back into baseball, a middle-aged man who has never played professionally.

He's reluctantly hired by a team that’s losing every single game. But his ability to hit the ball turns them around. His first time at bat, he literally knocks the cover off the ball! In another, during a night game, he hits the ball straight into the bank of lights, causing a beautiful shower of electric sparks.

Sounds like just another sports film, right?

It’s so much more than that. As one writer has said, it’s about “the American dream, the corrupting influences of fame and ambition, and the nature of heroism.” Hobbs is surrounded by greedy, unscrupulous people, who constantly try to tempt him to become one of them. And he comes close. But—like all heroes—ultimately he finds a better way.

The novel ends with failure. The film inspires self-sacrifice for the sake of others, the enduring nature of love, and the commitment to good versus evil.

Sound familiar?

The time in which we now live can feel so dark.

But we know that the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

It feels as if greed and corruption are too often getting the upper hand.

But we know that we are called by The Word, The Great I Am, to a much higher standard of living.

It often seems as though we are powerless to take a stand against the hatred and anger that divide us.

But we know that we carry within us the power of Love.

Existentialism developed in response to a world torn apart by two World Wars.

But we know that regardless of what is happening in the world all around us, we can choose hope over despair.

If you’re needing a reminder of who we are, and whose we are, you might want to watch The Natural.

You won’t hear the word “Christian” in it. But it speaks powerfully of the God we follow—the God of Goodness, Light, and perfect Love.

The world needs us to remember.

Blessings,

Lou Ann