Searching for Bobby Fischer
Paramount Pictures
Starring Ben Kingsley
Dendy Theatre, Sydney
Late October
Reviewed by Frank Noakes
A film woven around the game of chess? Don't be fooled. Film titles and even subject matter, like book covers, can be deceptive. This is one of those little gems that, ever so occasionally, can be discovered on the fringes of mainstream movieland.
Josh Waitzkin (played by Max Pomeranc) sees his first game of speed chess, known as "blitz", in New York's Washington Square Park. He watches the lightning-paced moves and understands the strategies. He is gifted. He is seven years old. And, just maybe, he's the next Bobby Fischer.
Along the way and in passing, the film reveals the enigmatic Fischer beating Russian Boris Spassky in the world chess championship, later to disappear and elude the world's press, fail to defend his title, only to reappear and rewin the championship — then disappear once more.
The film, nominated for an Academy Award for cinematography, is based on the book of the same name by Fred Waitzkin, a sports writer, and chronicles the true life experiences of his son, Josh.
Fred encourages Josh in his new-found talent; as the son wins more children's championships, the father's pride swells. The best chess teacher, the one who trained the legendary Fischer, is hired. Winning becomes the goal, the only goal — for Fred.
On any Sunday, on any sideline, the scene is played out: parents living vicariously through their offspring. What's a game to the kids is nothing short of war for the parents. Voices raised and tempers frayed, heaven help little Johnny (for it's usually the boy) if he makes a mistake.
In one scene, a children's chess championship organiser is giving a lecture on the need for sensible, adult behaviour. The camera follows his stern look to rest on — the parents. But the obsessed parents lose control. To the applause of the aspiring chess grand masters, the parents are shut away in a locker room.
Josh's teacher, Bruce Pandolfini (Ben Kingsley) wants to prepare his student for winning: he should hate his opponent, develop contempt for others — "Fischer did" — and disassociate from the speed chess losers in the park. Fred agrees. But Josh's mother Bonnie (Joan Allen), who understands her son's feelings better than the men in his life, calls an end to this attempted distortion of Josh's warm and caring nature. Josh continues to play, but on his terms.
The friendship and humanity the youngsters show one another, their longing to please often unintentionally thoughtless parent(s) and the conflict this creates in their minds are brilliantly and touchingly portrayed.
"Children can guide us as much or more than we guide them", says director Steven Zaillian, who insists on the "innocence and basic goodness of children". The children in this film remind of us of how much we've lost in becoming adults in this dog-eat-dog world. That sense of innocence and goodness reminds me of my happiest moments as a bus driver: primary school excursions. Out they would gaily skip in twos, hand in hand, boy and boy, girl and girl, boy and girl, black and white, all chattering and laughing.
This is the film debut for Max Pomeranc. The producers decided they needed a real chess player for the role; to ask an eight-year-old to learn lines, act and play chess convincingly would be too much. Pomeranc, who ranks in the top 100 chess players in his age group in the US, on this performance has the option of a career on the screen. Pomeranc is Josh Waitzkin for an hour and three quarters.
Ben Kingsley, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Gandhi in the film of that name, plays convincingly in Searching for Bobby Fischer but does not outshine the rest of the very capable cast. Kingsley says of the film: "It's a wonderful question when we try to anticipate what effect this film will have, but the screenplay is so rich that mothers will says it's about mothers and sons, teachers will say it's about teachers and their students, fathers will say it's about fathers and sons, and chess experts will say it's about chess".
The real Josh says that the "emotions are true. They're exactly what happened." He identifies his talent as "a gift — but something that I've worked very hard to nurture. A talent isn't anything unless you work to get better. I play chess because I love it, but it has changed from a game to a sport to a profession, and recently I see the art of it.
"For three, four and sometimes eight hours, you're sitting there and putting everything you have inside you into the game ... it has something that's just so ferocious in it that you have to appreciate it."
Searching for Bobby Fischer has a momentum that easily carries you through to the end. If you want a movie that doesn't scream at you but entertains and leaves you feeling uplifted, this could be the one.