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The Legend of Bagger Vance

What’s the Story?

Reviewed by Nell Minow

In THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE, a golden boy, young, handsome, a champion golfer, wins the heart of Adele (Charlize Theron), the most beautiful debutante in Georgia. His roots in Savannah are so deep that even his name seems spelled with a Southern accent -- Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon). Then he goes off to fight in World War I, and comes home "confused, broken, and unable to face a return to a hero's welcome." He does not speak to Adele or see any of his old friends and he does not play golf for more than 10 years. And then Adele needs him to play the two greatest golfers in the world at an exhibition match that can keep her from bankruptcy. A mysterious stranger named Bagger Vance (Will Smith) arrives to give Junuh the guidance he needs to get back in the game.

Is It Any Good?

4

Your ability to appreciate this movie will depend on your tolerance for larger-than life stories with allegorical, even epical, overtones. Some people will find it simplistic and clichéd. They will see Bagger Vance's relationship with Junuh as too much like having Yoda coach Luke Skywalker. Vance tells Junuh things that will either strike you as wise or fortune-cookie corny, depending on your point of view. But others, particularly those who have spent some time in the South, will recognize it as not too far off from the way things actually occur in that part of the country, especially on the golf course. They will enjoy the sun-dappled greens and the pleasures of seeing a man find a swing that makes a sound like thunder when it drives the ball.

This movie has a lot in common with A River Runs Through It. Like that one, this story begins with an old man remembering the sport and the setting of his youth, with golf, like fly-fishing, as a metaphor for man's interaction with nature and fate and even love. But A River Runs Through It was more complex and more comfortable with ambiguity. Its message was that a person can love completely without understanding completely. This movie, with its more traditional journey of redemption, is not as wise or moving. But it is a good story, lovingly told, and beautiful to watch.

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