I highly recommend “Moneyball,” the new movie. Of course as an Oakland A’s fan I have a special relationship to the movie–its events and its setting are very familiar to me. And I loved Michael Lewis’ book, on which the movie is based. Ultimately, though, this is not a baseball movie. It’s a movie about Sisyphus, the Greek tragic hero who is doomed to keep rolling the rock up a mountain, though it always rolls back down. What makes Sisyphus tick? Why does he keep trying when he is certain to lose?
Billy Beane is the A’s General Manager, and his task is to beat the Yankees. He doesn’t have anything like the Yankees’ budget, so he tries desperate measures to outsmart them. The film portrays Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) as a high strung, emotional, impulsive and fundamentally caring man driven by his own failings as a baseball player. It’s a subtle, almost delicate performance. You won’t forget Billy Beane.
Also notable is his sidekick,played brilliantly by Jonah Hill. It’s all done with body language.
Trust me, you don’t have to care about baseball to love this movie.
