Playing the Youth Card

Getting the lastest Ender's book in the series reminded me of something Orson Scott Card said, that Searching for Bobby Fischer covered the things he wanted to say in Ender's Game had me revisiting this film.

It's not about Bobby Fischer's life, nor about someone who's going to be the next Bobby Fischer. Instead, this tells the tale of what happens when you have a kid that's good sport, in this case, chess, and the kinds of pressure that surrounds being the best. Although it's baldly manipulative, shimmery light, sped up blitz chess, repeated pounding of the chess clocks, to amp up what would otherwise be a yawner of sport to watch, it touches on topics that's rare in sport (and for the purposes of discussion, I classify chess as a sport).

Pandolfini plays the surrogate chess father who sees in little Josh Waitzkin the potential for the next champion and wants to toughen him up to rise to the challenge, while Josh (and his mom, and later his dad) still wants to be a kid.

Pandolfini's "I've been there before and know how to train you" is contrasted with Vinnie's street tactics which primarily involve early queen play and intimidating the other guy, much like classical basketball teamwork is contrasted with And-1 one-on-one flashy crossovers and whipping by your opponent for a dunk. The former representing the pressures of being good, the latter representing pure joy of the game.

Yes, they had to have a "bad guy" for Josh to face, in this case, a kid that looks like evil Fred Savage, who's acting mostly consists of glares and pouts. Max Pomeranc, a real life chess player, selected to play young Josh Waitzkin seems to lack the acting chops to pull off the role, but he becomes more effective as the film moves along, with the director using his lack of acting to his advantage, showing him as the innocent. Even the final game which seems like a complete cliche has a conclusion that somehow manages to combine everything he was taught and the person that he is.

You begin to see why Card likened this film about a chess prodigy to his story of a kid that's talented at strategy and war. It's about the pressures of being the best, of still being a kid, and to learn to love one's enemies.

[Hah, I think the key to writing reviews is to force it to be short, short, short. Something I have incredible difficulty doing.]