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When we glimpse the shallows of the ocean how much do we really see? How well do we really know our fathers? We glimpse a tiny slice of their lives as their children and then a tiny bit more as adults but we never truly get the whole picture. Do we understand their hopes, dreams or desires? Can we understand how their ambitions were sidetracked by the responsibility of raising a family? All of that is as impenetrable as murky depths of the ocean. Seeing a small part of the surf as it rises to meet the sand tells us little about where it came from or how it came to be. Just as glimpsing a wedge of a man's life tells us only about that single moment in time. We all have regrets, things we would change if we could. If you could relive a moment of your past, what would you do and how would you change it? "Field of Dreams" asks these questions and more providing surprising, uplifting and powerful answers for the main characters in the film. A surprisingly moving film about baseball, "Field of Dreams" touches on the complicated relationship between fathers and sons, dreams vs. reality and idols with feet of clay. ***

Ray (Kevin Costner) raises corn for a living. Becoming a farmer was the furthest thing from his mind when he graduated from college. His wife (Amy Madigan) encouraged him to become one and they've done a pretty good job so far. Ray's relationship with his young daughter is significantly different from that of his own father. Ray became estranged from his father as a youth never seeing or speaking to him again after they had a falling out. While working in the cornfield on a hot day, Ray hears a voice speaking to him. "If you built it, he will come." This mysterious voice never exactly explains who will come but when Ray has visions of a baseball field; he follows his whim with full encouragement from his free spirited wife. One evening a single ballplayer shows up on his field. After determining that the field is up to spec and that Ray is friendly other mysterious ballplayers appear from the cornfields that line the side of the baseball diamond. That's not the end of his saga; however, as the same mysterious voice urges him to find a reclusive writer and a doctor who missed his chance to play the game. Ray hopes he'll find out what mystery lies at the heart of his baseball diamond once he does the bidding of the mysterious, whispering voice.

This deluxe two disc edition of "Field of Dreams" comes with a number of fine featurettes and a terrific short documentary on translating the novel "Shoeless Joe" into the a film. Director Robinson comments about the reactions from various studios about the novel. "Not recommended.concept is too fragile and the material would be bloated and too silly for a motion picture", Robinson quotes one review by a studio. Robinson discusses the struggles in trying to remain faithful to the soul of a novel without being literal. Robinson also discusses issues related to casting the film including how Robinson used actor James Earl Jones as the template for his fictional cynical writer Terrence Mann who is transformed by his encounter by Ray and the field. We also get the background on novelist Kinsella and the difficulties he faced as a writer. He became a novelist at the age of 41 an unusual age for a first time novelist. ***

The best of the featurettes includes "From Father to Son" with actor Costner along with baseball players Johnny Bench, George Brett and Fred Saberhagen discuss their relationships with their fathers. They also discuss the impact the film had on their lives. In "'Field of Dreams' Roundtable" star Costner and former major league players discuss baseball, their dreams and how the game impacted their family's lives. ***

There were also a number of DVD-ROM features available but, unfortunately, due to a problem with the Interactual Software, I was unable to access the DVD-ROM content. ---