THE HILL (2023) - Mark Reviews Movies

The Hill, Briarcliff Entertainment

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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 24, 2023

The Hill is a corn-fed pile of religiosity and schmaltz. This true-life, supposedly inspirational story is ultimately discouraging, not only because of the misaligned aim of what the movie considers to be success and fulfillment, but also because it's so poorly executed by the filmmakers.

Part of that is the clunky structure of Angelo Pizzo and Scott Marshall Smith's screenplay, which opens in 1973 and jumps backwards in time about a decade with no warning, no transition, and no context for why we're starting in '73 or going into the past in the first place. As it's eventually revealed, the main character basically makes an unnecessary pit stop in the middle of the most momentous event of his life, simply so that the story's structure can be excused. That's the level of contrivance and convolution with which we're dealing here.

The story of Rickey Hill, played as a young man by Colin Ford and as a child by Jesse Berry, is about a kid and, later, a young adult who dreams of playing baseball professionally. It's that simple, although complicated by the central figure's health issues, which are treated as a kind of cosmic punishment, a divine sign of some other calling, and the proof of a bona fide miracle, depending on what the story requires to make it feel inspiring in some way. For some reason, the movie doesn't see the character's struggles for what they actually are—an unfortunate reality, made worse by poverty and the stubborn refusal to find proper medical advice in favor of trusting in some otherworldly purpose—or his recovery for what it becomes—a lot of avoidable complications made possible by putting blind trust into an alleged miracle.

The reason, obviously, is that this is one of those faith-based stories that constantly puts the concept of faith above matters such as grounded characters, actual storytelling, consistent theme, and basic common sense. The movie's overt religious convictions aren't inherently a problem, and in fact, an argument could be made that Pizzo and Smith call them into question in regards to a specific character (Those questions don't extend to that "miracle" or the consequences of accepting it as one, though). However, its inability to move beyond them in terms of storytelling is.

A young Rickey wears leg braces, having been born with a degenerative spinal condition. His father James (Dennis Quaid) is a Christian minister, whose tough ways have put him in the position of taking low-paying opportunities in impoverished areas. The whole family is run out of the small Texas town where the story begins (well, begins again, after that flash-forward), because James scolds parishioners for smoking and chewing tobacco in church.

They end up in another small town, where Rickey continues to hold on to his dream of playing baseball, despite his father's discouragement of that ambition. Even after Rickey removes the braces himself and insists that he doesn't feel any pain, James—who, like the rest of the family, sees his son's recovery as a miracle—refuses to sign a permission slip for his younger son to join a local team and comes close to beating his older son for the boy's part in forging the preacher's signature.

After a lot of empty debate about the boy's divine purpose and some chastising of James by the rest of the family, Rickey does play, becomes a star player in high school (Somehow, the adult characters look the same or even younger after the time jump), reunites with childhood girlfriend Gracie (Siena Bjornerud), and looks to be on his way to be noticed by professional scouts (Scott Glenn arrives in the third act to upstage everyone and everything else until that point). It's meant to be a surprise, perhaps, that Rickey's health issues suddenly return with a vengeance. The bigger and real surprise, though, is how little concern anyone here seems to have for the well-being of the young man, whose doctor starts talking about paralysis, amputation, and other life-long consequences if Rickey keeps playing baseball. Don't let such negative facts get in the way of what everyone believes to be a miracle, apparently.

Since this is based on a true and lesser-known story, it's difficult to gather how much of this actually happened and how much of it, like most the screenplay's cheesy dialogue, is manipulative invention. What does become clear, though, is that The Hill ignores or sugarcoats the harsher realities of this story, because they're right there but acknowledging them would get in the way of the movie's agenda.

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