Pawn Sacrifice (film) : true story that I never knew before watching this
I was well before my time and it was about chess, therefore I guess it wasn’t historically important enough for me to have ever heard of Bobby Fischer. However, this is an incredible film that really showcases Tobey Maguire’s talents as an actor.
As is explained over an over again in the movie, this was a story of a poor boy from Brooklyn who just happened to take to chess like a fish to water. Fischer was incredibly gifted and he taught himself how to play. He, at a very young age, was able to defeat people routinely that had been playing for decades and was recognized by local masters in New York as being something truly special.
Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) truly wants to play and defeat the best in the world but when faced with the Russians he quickly realizes that they are playing as a team and forcing draws rather than trying to win. He calls them out to the international press and this is an embarrassment to what was then the Soviet Union. He causes enough of a stir that the best players in the world, over the course of many years in the late 60’s and early 70’s all play him, and all of them lose.
However, since the Cold War was in full swing at the time the governments of both the United States and The Soviet Union took great interest in ensuring that their particular participant was victorious and a great deal of news coverage and money was dedicated to the showdown that eventually happened in 1972 when Fischer faced then champion Boris Spassky (played by the exceptionally talented Liev Schreiber in the film.)
This movie is a bit slow because, well, how much action can you possibly have in a movie about playing chess? However, it is remarkable because the casting is great, the movie is based on real events, and the pace of the film is kept about as fast as a film that has no ninja fights in it can be expected to proceed. I was entertained and I don’t really even care about chess nor was I alive at the time nor am I particularly patriotic. I found this film to be fun, entertaining, and certainly worth seeing.
The key figure of the sports drama of Oscar winner Edward Zwick is not the full-grown prodigy Fischer. An eccentric and paranoid, Jewish and anti-Semitic. Suspecting one and all. The Russians are in the fact that they play contractual matches, the Jews and the Communists in the world conspiracy, the FBI people in total tapping (through sockets and dental fillings), their own mother in the fall. So you are absolutely right, the role played by Tobey Maguire is excellent.
But as it seemed to me, the legendary Reykjavik chess battle, called by journalists the “silent Third World War” - is shown not as a competition of clever men, but as intellectual rock and roll. As a salvation from a crazy world and your own paranoid fears. The culmination of the fight. Spassky standing-up applauds the genius of Fischer, who decided on a suicidal move and won the most beautiful game in the history of chess. This is the moment of their common freedom. Beyond loneliness and political fights. In a world divorced from social conjuncture. Where the harmony of the unknowable game rules. And where the king is far from the strongest figure.
Hahahaha. If chess is slow, how will a film talk about it! I don't know if it happens to everyone, but when I see that a movie is based on real facts, I immediately look for the original story to see how interesting it is. And yes, Bobby Fischer's story is super interesting. I haven't seen the film, but with what I've read, I already want to know a little more. Thanks for sharing, @gooddream!
Oh I like chess, not enough to be a great player, but if I enjoy a game occasionally, every 5 years, haha. The film is very good, I think I do not know anyone else who has seen it, it is easy to pass unnoticed a movie like that. However, it is really interesting, Tobey's work is good, he gets too involved in the game, at a certain moment you do not know if he has gone crazy or not. It's one of my two favorite chess movies, along with Searching for Bobby Fischer. The only ones I've seen.
yeah, i would imagine there are not many films about playing chess out there :)
The skill is in everyone it just needs to recognize it. as fischer taught himself in this movie. nice movie. can anyone tell me ? which country did the start of the chess game.
Great review, I need to watch this movie soon.
Hi @gooddream. Will give you my opinion after the weekend as I will give it ago. You haven't been far off with your reviews so far.
After this review it seems like I need to watch this movie soon.
Nunca me ha llamado la atención Tobey Maguire, sin embargo esta critica se lee bien así que la tendré en cuenta para mis peliculas del domingo!!!!