Retrospective Collection: The Sandlot

The Sandlot

      A childhood summer in America put to film.

      It is not at all uncommon for children to be the main characters of a film.  They're typically adventure stories and the children usually get involved in some very adult conflicts.  Most stories told from the perspective of children follow a similar pattern.  It's children vs adults.  Think Home Alone, E.T., Super 8 (J.J. Abrams' love letter to Spielberg films), or the very recent example of Stranger Things.

      The wonderful and unique thing about The Sandlot is that it's about children living through children things.  There are no shady government agencies involved in cover ups, or burglars breaking into a house.  The single greatest source of conflict in the whole movie is the loss of a treasured collectible.  How true to childhood is that?

      It goes further.  There is no alien friend with fantastic powers that you wish you had as a kid.  Benny Rodriguez is the admired older friend that you probably did have as a kid.  The Sandlot is designed to recall every American childhood.

      Strictly speaking, it's not even a narrative picture.  The conflict that stands out (getting the ball back from the beast) doesn't even begin until we're an hour in - and is resolved less than a half hour later.  Sure, it's teased in a couple spots in the narration, but in the meantime we have other experiences laid out before us that are relatable to every American raised at home.  What did you do as a kid in the summer?  You went out to make friends, you fought to be accepted, you made bad decisions, and your friends helped you through them.  Losing something that is precious, having a crush on a girl in the neighborhood, or just spending every waking moment with your friends, it's all relatable.  You could almost call them vignettes of a childhood summer in America.

      You will find it funny how seriously these kids treat all their problems - and even more so how seriously the movie itself treats their problems.  But isn't that true to life as well?  How many problems did you make worse as a child because you were afraid to ask for help from an adult?  You didn't tell your parents, you got your friends to help you.  And the logic was sound.  To you it made sense.  To you it was the biggest problem you ever faced, and when you and your friends ever found a solution by yourselves, it was a giant victory.

      I own two of the three Captain America movies, and The Sandlot is my most American movie.  If ever a foreign friend asks you what it was like growing up in the states, point them to this movie.  They may not get it, but at least they'll see it.