Bagger Vance is a beautifully broken story, starring Will Smith and Matt Damon in lead roles. Shot on the backdrop of the Great Depression in the USA although the Bagger Vance filming happened in Georgia. A supreme golf player is suffering from PTSD after the war and becomes lost. Until Bagger Vance becomes his Massiah to guide him through life. It’s a retelling of the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita where Arjuna is guided by Lord Krishna. The message of this movie is layered. You must peel through to know to learn more about it.
Despite being a multi-starer movie, it did not do well at the box office. It hardly achieved half of the film’s budget itself. Some said it’s just a boring golf movie and some bashed it for the stereotypical Black portrayal. It is not a typical hero and anti-hero story but it’s simply about life. We all get lost sometimes and just need the right guidance and that’s exactly what this movie sheds light on.
The Filming of Bagger Vance
Since Bagger Vance was a big-budget movie, a lot of great locations were involved in the making. Let’s look at each of them separately.
Kiawah Island Golf Resort
Bagger Vance is more than just a golfing movie but has significant scenes with golfing in it. One of the biggest golf courses is the Kiawah Island Golf Resort where the final golf tournament was shot. However, that cost the makers a lot of money.
To the viewer’s shock, narrator Hardy Greaves has a heart attack on a golf field. This scene although sad is also memorable. It is filmed in Cougar point of Kiawah Island.
Brookland Plantation, Edisto Island
This location served as Rannulph Junah’s humble abode. Matt Damon’s broken character Junah stayed in this cottage which was a cotton plantation. Brookland Plantation is one of the monumental pieces of Charleston. And this 1803 building, built by Robert Mils still stands tall.
Jekyll Island Club Resort
The immaculate resort on Jekyll Island is can be seen in a lot of shots of Bagger Vance. Even though this place fell into a hole during the Great Depression, it slowly bounced back. Moreover, everything from the dining halls to the front lawn of this resort is used in the filming of Bagger Vance.
The Story and Inspiration of Bagger Vance
The story follows Rannulph Junah, once a great golf player who is now broken and miserable. Junah is drinking and gambling his life away until his Massiah, Bagger Vance enters his life. Hardy Greaves as a young boy witnesses all of this and his grown-up version is narrating this story. Although Junah seemed hopeless, with the help of Bagger, Hardy, and his girlfriend Adele, he is getting his life together.
This movie is less about winning or losing at the game and more about winning at life. In the end, Junah is so close to winning the golf tournament. But since he accidentally moves the ball, he refrains from cheating and walks away. And witnessing this story, young Hardy falls in love with golf. So much so that even his last breaths are taken on a golf field.
Criticism and Backlash Against This Movie
Bagger Vance is a movie made with a whopping budget of $80 million. However, it couldn’t manage to garner even half of it, which was a terrible loss. Apart from the box-office loss, it also received quite a backlash. Will Smith playing the role of a guy with “magical powers” hurt the sentiments of the Black community.
As this movie was navigating through the backlash, the real message of it was unseen. People just viewed it as a boring golf movie, whereas it’s so much more than that. I mean, sometimes we do judge a book by its cover, don’t we? But this movie honestly did not deserve the hate it received. However, now people are acknowledging it for being a philosophical treat. It gives you the same lessons as Bhagavad Gita, where could it go wrong?
So, you into the zone where wanna watch some self-reflective, inspirational movie. Watch Bagger Vance! It even stars two of the most brilliant actors in Hollywood, so why miss it?
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