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Field of Dreams
W.P. Kinsella

I’ve bent the rules a little here to include a DVD/Video but can claim that it is based on a book which I can’t review as it is unavailable at the moment.

I missed this movie when it was released in 1988 but the title was one that was later lodged at the back of my mind as it kept cropping up every now and then as I listened to presentations or would occasionally arise in conversations with people from quite different backgrounds.

Eventually the title worked its way to the front of my mind and I decided to buy it. In attempting to describe the film there is a danger that I will distract you. For example the film is about baseball which although it creates great passion in America, for many areas of the world is a rather minor sport. The story is based on ‘Shoeless Joe Jackson’ who was accused of throwing a game in the Chicago Black Sox scandal early last century. However don’t worry if you don’t like baseball or don’t even like sport, this is really a story about having dreams and vision and making them happen; as the film puts it, a story of going the distance and realising your dreams. Kevin Costner plays the part of a farmer who hears a voice  that stirs a dream and sets him on a course to build a baseball ground on his Iowa farm.

What the film is, in our context of change is of course less important than what the film might stir in you and how it might help inspire you to overcome obstacles to get change to take place. Of course, just as with books, your response to the film will be very personal. All I can suggest is that if you are involved in change, in trying to create a new future then I think you might enjoy this film and find that in some way it helps you make sense of change and perhaps helps you to better deal with it.

An ancient sage once said ‘When the student is ready, the teacher will appear’. For me the film echoes this belief that if you allow yourself to be open to change and commit to it this unlocks the means to achieve it. In the words of the film, ‘If you build it they will come’.

Steve Unwin February 04

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