Greatness Courts Failure

The Legend of Bagger Vance

Monday, April 6th, 2009

The Bhagvad Gita, or the Song of the Divine One, is an epic Hindu text of verse, told in chant form, of a conversation between Krishna, the Divine One, and Arjuna. Arjuna, a prince and warrior, is a conflicted soul, uncertain of his place in life, his duties and his responsibilities. Krishna, whose identity is kept from Arjuna through most of the story, gives Arjuna philosophical direction and his life meaning and purpose through the use of tales, allegories, and analogies. Upon enlightenment, Krishna ultimately reveals his divinity as a blessing to Arjuna.

You thought we were talking about that 2000 Robert Redford golf film with Matt Damon, Will Smith and the insanely beautiful Charlize Theron? We are! Every now and then Hollywood tries to sneak a little culture by us without our knowing it. Most of the time this is done through the adaptation of novels since Hollywood, like Jim Nance, is totally devoid of originality and soul. The Legend of Bagger Vance is no exception. The movie is based on the novel of the same name by Steven Pressfield.

So what was the deal with all the mystical mumbo-jumbo? The novel The Legend of Bagger Vance parallels the Bhagvad Gita, noted mostly by the enlightenment of Rannulph Junuh (R. Junuh = Arjuna) through the teachings of Bagger Vance (Bagger Vance = Bhagvad or Bhagvan). The movie keeps the names and keeps the enlightenment but as with most Hollywood crap, throws out the other stuff because they pretty much think Americans are stupid. And, we won’t even go into having Will Smith play Bagger Vance, further enforcing Hollywood’s either white guilt or veiled racism with the use of the magical negro to once again save the troubled white man.

All of this in a freaking golf movie! As for the golf, I enjoyed Bruce McGill as Walter Hagen. McGill is a fantastic, longtime character actor who most of you know as D-Day in Animal House. He brought some levity to this otherwise ponderous movie. Joel Gretsch was a reasonably passable Bobby Jones, a mystic figure in his own right. Will Smith did his best James Baskett (Uncle Remus in Song of the South) while J. Michael Moncrief annoyed as the young caddy Hardy Greaves, who narrates the story from the present day. Charlize Theron was illuminating, as only she could be. Redford should have just kept the camera on her for two-plus hours. As for Matt Damon? I think he was better in Team America: World Police.

We’ll have to rate this one a single golf ball, rescued from the shag bag by the historic look at golf and McGill’s and Gretsch’s performances as two of golf’s greatest players.