Clemente Credit: Photo: Courtesy of Vinegar Hill
Clemente, the new documentary from filmmaker David M. Altrogge, opens with Pirates legend Roberto Clemente recording his 3,000th hit. It’s a moment that cements what was already known, that Clemente was one of the all-time great baseball players, an inner-circle Hall-of-Famer.
Yet, in that moment, we also hear the broadcast call the play, and what they call him: “Bob.”
Those three letters sum up so much of his experience, and so much of the complex relationship that Altrogge tries to capture in Clemente, which kicks off the Three Rivers Film Festival on Wed., Nov. 13 at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center.
Clemente famously hated being called Bob, the “Americanizing” of his name signifying a desire to make the Black Puerto Rican player palatable for white Pittsburghers in the 1960s and ’70s. And yet, in his crowning moment, he was Bob. He was what white people wanted him to be.
Clemente — which notably won the Documentary Spotlight Audience Award at the 2024 SXSW TV and FIlm Festival — explores one of the most impressive men that has ever graced the city of Pittsburgh (or any city for that matter), while also reckoning that not everyone saw him that way until he tragically died.
To be clear, everyone saw him as great on the baseball field. The film covers just how phenomenal he was as a player from an early age, and was being recruited from the time he was a young teenager. The scenes showing Clemente’s grace and unbridled joy on the field are thrilling, displaying a beautiful harmony of power, speed, and finesse. The talking heads support this, as Clemente rolls out an all-star roster to supply stories about the man, including Michael Keaton, Fransisco Lindor, Richard Linklater (who executive produced the film along with LeBron James and Roberto Clemente Jr.), and Rita Moreno.
Clemente Credit: Photo: Courtesy of Vinegar Hill
But there’s a story occurring parallel to Clemente’s brilliance on the field, and it’s one of the turmoil and struggle he faced navigating life as a Black Puerto Rican in a deeply racist Pittsburgh. He never felt comfortable in the city, as he was often treated by fans as a man whose race and ethnicity could be overlooked by how good he was at baseball.
Clemente navigates this topic with a deft touch, an effort negated by a sledgehammer the filmmakers most likely didn’t see coming. Heavily featured in the film is Roberto Clemente Jr., speaking at length about his dad, and all the sacrifices and hardships he faced. It would behoove us not to mention that the junior Clemente gave a ringing endorsement of Donald Trump at the last rally for the President-elect, the day before the election — this is despite that fact that Trump has been accused of withholding relief aid to Puerto Rico after the U.S. territory was hit by Hurricane Maria in 2017, during his first term.
Reconciling a film that so lovingly portrays a man who battled discrimination, while prominently featuring his son who gushed about a figure who stands for everything that his dad would’ve despised, is a difficult balance. But the senior Roberto comes out clean, his unwavering commitment to public service always shining through. Up until his death in 1972, when his plane crashed during a relief mission to earthquake victims in Nicaragua, he represented everything that Pittsburgh should be, a model leader even when the city didn’t always want him as one.
Clemente, as a documentary, isn’t doing anything radical with the form. It’s your classic sports documentary, talking head footage mixed with highlights of its subject’s life and career, occasionally intercut with animation when a point can’t be made with archival photos.
That being said, if you’re unfamiliar with the legendary athlete’s life and legacy, or you just need an uplifting story, Clemente is worth your time. The documentary is complicated, unruly, and not without its flaws, but also deeply inspiring with its look at the resilience in the face of hatred, discrimination, and the New York Yankees.
Three Rivers Film Festival presents Clemente. 7 p.m. VIP reception at 6 p.m. Wed., Nov. 13. August Wilson African American Cultural Center. 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $50-200. Includes director Q&A and afterparty. filmpittsburgh.org
This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2024.
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