The Hill (2023)

Whenever "The Hill" lets Rickey and James verbally spar about faith and sports, the movie transcends cliche. The screenplay lets opposing forces gently push against each other without resolution. You get a clear sense of how people's conditioning and pathologies impede them from making the right choice. Young Rickey eloquently explains to his father that he can be God's representative on the field as effectively as he can in a church and that the two callings are not in opposition, then gives him a drawing of a baseball diamond in which opposing bases have been connected with straight lines to create a cross shape. You'd think such a display of creative imagination and sincerity would persuade the boy's father to change his mind and support him, but no. He lets Rickey play ball, but six years later, when Rickey is a high school star, he tells visitors to the family's home that he has yet to attend a game. (No bets will be taken on whether Dad eventually shows up in the stands.)