“Is this heaven? No. It’s Iowa.”
These words rang through an Iowa cornfield and defined a generation of baseball fans. “Field of Dreams” celebrated its 35th anniversary earlier this year, and its themes and characters continue to stand the test of time.
Directed by Phil Alden Robinson, the movie stars Kevin Costner as Ray Kinsella, a city kid turned farmer, who is called by a mysterious voice to inexplicably build a baseball field allowing long-deceased players to return and play again. From the outset of the film, Ray discusses his strained relationship with his deceased father, hinting at a falling out that lasted until Ray’s father’s death.
Despite the fact that Ray repeatedly claims he is interested in being anything but his father, it is clear he yearns for more time with him. When talking about his father, he lights up, especially when it comes to the thing that bonded them, baseball.
I still remember watching “Field of Dreams” with my dad for the first time and seeing his emotional reaction to it. My dad lost his father when he was just 14. A movie like “Field of Dreams,” which relies heavily on the nature of fatherhood, hit home for my dad. As I have grown older, I have more deeply appreciated the film’s themes. As I have studied and matured, I have discerned a calling to pursue a career as a screenwriter when I graduate from college. When I practice the craft I am always searching for ways to make an audience connect with a film.
Of course, this search led me back to “Field of Dreams.” Seeing your dad have an emotional reaction to a movie sticks with you. The film can be summed up simply as being about ghost baseball players getting another chance to play the game they loved. But the film is much more than that. It says something not only about redemption and renewal in our personal relationships, but in particular the relationship a father has with his child.
When working in the cornfield one day, Ray hears an unidentifiable voice, almost in a whisper, say: “If you build it, he will come.” This throws Ray for a loop. At first he believes he might be going crazy; then he tries to figure out what the voice means in its vague message. Ray eventually is given his answer through a vision of a baseball field and a figure walking solemnly across the outfield. Ray identifies the figure as Shoeless Joe Jackson. Baseball fans remember him as a disgraced member of the infamous 1919 Chicago “Black Sox,” who had thrown the World Series. Shoeless Joe was a hero to Ray’s father, as someone who lived out and excelled at his passion.
Ray starts construction on the field almost immediately after seeing the vision, but not merely because of the voice. He does it because of the relationship that Shoeless Joe has to Ray’s father. Ray works to make his dad proud. As it was put by James Earl Jones’s character, Terrence Mann: “You can’t bring your father back, so the least you can do is bring back his hero.” Ray’s squandered relationship with his father has led him to seek any connection Ray can find with his dad.
This relationship between Ray and his father is the part of the movie that has the most meaning to me. The film expertly takes the audience on the journey of getting in a fight with your dad and its aftermath. Along the way it reminds you to cherish whatever time you have with your dad, as you will have to say goodbye someday. The film is also very quotable. “Is this heaven?” “If you build it he will come.” “You’re a pacifist!” Each line carries a strong punch and has helped elevate the film to iconic status over the years.
Although my dad is still alive, his father, my grandpa, is not. In the absence of that relationship, my dad and I still search for ways to connect to his legacy. Although it is not a baseball field, we still cook with my grandpa’s kitchen instruments, carrying his legacy through Italian meals and stories.
Ray goes on the journey of building the field not because he thinks it is going to bring back long-deceased ball players, but because it connects Ray to his dad’s passion for baseball. It is almost like some sort of penance he is doing to render atonement to his father, creating something that fills a hole in their relationship.
Ray mentions that “having a catch” with his dad “got to be like taking out the garbage.” So in some way, even if he cannot have the catch he wants, the field delivers some sort of closure to him. The field also reminds Ray of the many catches he could have had with his father but did not following their estrangement.
Even though Ray continually states that he does not understand why he is being called to do all of this, the reason could not be more clear. His father’s legacy drives him. Ray chooses to follow the call of the voice because he feels he needs to.
I feel a similar drive. My dad’s faith is something that motivates him. It led him to a career in high school campus ministry, to marry my mom and probably to have me and my brother. I try to follow this example. As a student driven by my faith and inspired by my dad, I too work in campus ministry as a college student. My dad works to change people’s lives for the better. After graduation, I plan to pursue media work and screenwriting and hope to achieve the same result.
In the movie, Ray doubts the call of the voice only once, asking, “What’s in it for me?” Shoeless Joe replies: “Is that why you did this? For you?”
For all Ray knows, he is building this field solely for the benefit of the baseball players who have appeared out of the past to to play their beloved sport once again. Ray enjoys the sport, but this is not what he yearns for. Yes, he gets to watch legendary sportsmen play ball, but it comes with a heavy financial burden. (He almost loses the farm). It is not an easy choice to build the field, so why would he choose to? Ray did not do it for himself, but for his father. It is only at this moment of frustration, after Shoeless Joe’s challenging response, that Ray realizes this. It is all for his dad.
Toward the end of the film, as Ray and his family prepare to leave the field for the evening, Shoeless Joe repeats the voice’s initial call: “If you build, he will come.” He then gestures to home plate. There is a catcher at the plate who slowly and dramatically removes his gear in the magic of the Iowa sunset. It is Ray’s father, albeit younger and more spry than Ray ever saw.
I always gravitated toward Ray’s hesitancy to speak to his father in this scene. Following a fight, especially with someone whose opinion you respect, it is hard to ask for forgiveness. I know when I upset my dad it is hard to cover up my pride and get the courage to ask for forgiveness. Ray is unsure if his father wants to speak to him or if his father even recognizes him. The two share a cordial moment in which Ray’s father introduces himself simply as “John.” Ray and John then just walk and talk, spending a moment with each other. There is an awkwardness to the way Ray is talking to John, unsure of exactly what to say or how to say it.
As the two wrap their conversation up, John asks if the field is “heaven,” to which Ray explains that it is Iowa. Ray follows this up by asking his dad if heaven is real, to which John replies, “It’s the place where dreams come true.”
As Ray soaks in these words from a man he thought he would never have a chance to talk to again, he admits that “maybe this is heaven.” As the two shake hands, it seems Ray’s relationship with his father has been restored, and he finally gets the courage to ask his father for a catch.
This moment is a great summation of the classic dynamic of arguments and relationships. There is not always some big apology between a dad and his son. Oftentimes it is the simple act of having a catch, going for a drive or getting a bite to eat that repairs old wounds. My dad and I get in disagreements like all fathers and sons do, but the movie is reassuring in its depictions that the relationship is stronger than the fight; that having a catch is sometimes all that is needed to patch up old wounds.
“Field of Dreams” is not simply a good, well-written film. It is a movie that makes the audience laugh, cry and feel in a deep way. It has been life-changing for me. The hopeful note it ends on has helped me grapple with my own familial relationships. The relationship I have with my dad is not perfect. But it does not mean I won’t go the extra mile to uphold his legacy and, like Ray, make my dad proud.
