field of dreams almost defies description . although it's about baseball , it's not a baseball movie . although the film is extremely spiritual , it's not about religion . and although field of dreams is melodramatic , it's not a tearjerker . to really understand what field of dreams is all about , you have to see it . in the film , kevin costner plays ray kinsella , a baseball fan , '60s berkeley graduate , and iowa farmer . one day as he is standing in the middle of his expansive corn fields , ray hears a voice ; it tells him : " if you build it , he will come . " then ray has a vision and somehow concludes that if he builds a baseball field in the middle of his corn , shoeless joe jackson will arise from the dead to play ball once again . and even though it depletes his family's savings and his neighbors think he's crazy , ray clears away the corn and builds a baseball field , complete with bleachers and flood lights . " if you build it , he will come . " and lo and behold , shoeless joe does come--bringing with him several of his dead teammates . and then ray hears the voice again ; it tells him to " ease his pain . " ray thinks this means that he must travel to boston to meet terence mann , an influential and radical novelist from the '60s who has since stopped writing and dropped out of society . with great aplomb , james earl jones plays the disillusioned author who joins forces with ray and embarks with him on a magical and spiritual journey . the cast in field of dreams is excellent , especially kevin costner in the lead role . costner gives a quiet , subtle , and moving performance as a man who before building the baseball field had done nothing crazy or spontaneous in his entire life . costner gives ray just the right mix of enthusiasm and idealism to make us believe in his mystic visions and swallow this wondrous fairy tale . amy madigan gives a fine supporting performance as ray's feisty and loving wife , who against her better judgement supports her husband's crazy ideas . in her most impressive scene , madigan vehemently argues against book burning at a p . t . a . meeting , displaying the sincere passion of a '60s berkeley radical . ray liotta is appropriately eerie and awe-inspiring as the ghost of shoeless joe , the legendary batter who was suspended from baseball for his involvement in the 1919 chicago " black sox " scandal . and finally , burt lancaster is memorable in a small , but important , role as a small town doctor whose professional baseball career was limited to only one inning . field of dreams is a touching fairy tale full of life , wonder , mystery , spirit , and humor . it , for the most part , succeeds in capturing our emotions and suspending our disbelief . ray kinsella's spiritual quest in pursuit of his dreams proves to be moving and miraculous . but while field of dreams generally avoids excessive melodrama , it unfortunately does at times go overboard , and by the end it gets down-right sappy . in general , however , field of dreams is an emotionally satisfying fantasy--one i can recommend to everyone but unromantic cynics . 
