Where Dreams Come True
I watched Field of Dreams earlier today - one of my all time favourite films.
FoD is a modern-day fairytale - a place in Iowa where American baseball meets Alice in Wonderland - a place where time can be suspended - or made to jump back and forwards at will.
But if you can suspend belief for an hour or two - then the film is a real joy for believers and non-believers of all ages.
Especially men of a certain age and generation who had a poor relationship - or no relationship - with their fathers.
In the final scene, Ray Kinsella - the Kevin Costner character - finally gets to make his peace with the 'ghost'of his Dad.
By playing a symbolic game of catch - which he never quite managed while his father was still alive.
Years later - with a wife, a child, a house and grown up worries of his own - Ray Kinsella begins to look at his life in a completely different way.
Which sets him off on a great adventure - following his heart not his head - with no idea of where or how things will end.
Along the way Field of Dreams is an emotional rollercoaster of a film - by turns funny and sad, intelligent and inspiring, folksy and perspicacious.
The principal actors are all excellent, the character actors (James Earl Jones and Burt Lancaster) are great and the musical score is wonderful.
What more could you ask for - except perhaps a memorable phrase or two.
'If you build it, he will come', has its many admirers - and rightly so.
But I prefer this exchange between John (Ray's Dad) and Ray Kinsella:
'Is this heaven?
No, it's Iowa.
FoD is a modern-day fairytale - a place in Iowa where American baseball meets Alice in Wonderland - a place where time can be suspended - or made to jump back and forwards at will.
But if you can suspend belief for an hour or two - then the film is a real joy for believers and non-believers of all ages.
Especially men of a certain age and generation who had a poor relationship - or no relationship - with their fathers.
In the final scene, Ray Kinsella - the Kevin Costner character - finally gets to make his peace with the 'ghost'of his Dad.
By playing a symbolic game of catch - which he never quite managed while his father was still alive.
Years later - with a wife, a child, a house and grown up worries of his own - Ray Kinsella begins to look at his life in a completely different way.
Which sets him off on a great adventure - following his heart not his head - with no idea of where or how things will end.
Along the way Field of Dreams is an emotional rollercoaster of a film - by turns funny and sad, intelligent and inspiring, folksy and perspicacious.
The principal actors are all excellent, the character actors (James Earl Jones and Burt Lancaster) are great and the musical score is wonderful.
What more could you ask for - except perhaps a memorable phrase or two.
'If you build it, he will come', has its many admirers - and rightly so.
But I prefer this exchange between John (Ray's Dad) and Ray Kinsella:
'Is this heaven?
No, it's Iowa.
