Cast: Denzel Washington, Vicellous Reon Shannon, Liev Schreiber, Deborah Unger
Directed by Norman Jewison
Cast: Denzel Washington, Vicellous Reon Shannon, Liev Schreiber, Deborah Unger
Directed by Norman Jewison
This is
the inspiring mostly-true-story of Ruben "Hurricane" Carter, a man
who could have been the middleweight champion if not for being
convicted and sentenced to three life sentences for murder.
Maintaining his innocence all the way, Ruben does his best to cope
with being wrongfully imprisoned and soon becomes a hardened shell of
a man, until a young boy that went to Canada to live in a commune
with some people who want to educate him becomes inspired by his
autobiography and contacts him. The ex-boxer and the boy form a
strong bond and soon the boy and his guardians put all their efforts
into freeing Ruben.
Yet another
powerhouse performance by Denzel Washington, who was one of two
actors who didn't deserve to lose to Kevin Spacey for the Best Actor
Oscar (Russell Crowe deserved it, in my opinion...though I concede
Spacey's excellence, it just wasn't as great as these two). Sadly
Denzel garnered the only nomination in what is a truly quality piece
of work, with an especially terrific directorial performance by the
always reliable Norman Jewison (MOONSTRUCK, A SOLDIER'S STORY).
Perfectly paced and compellingly written, it's quite a compelling
story deserving of big screen attention. Granted there's a bit of
playing fast and loose with the facts, but at least they admit
there's some fiction in the beginning notes, with the biggest being
the fictional character of Della Pesca as the cop determined to take
down the Hurricane at all costs. Though flawed as a biography, it's
still terrific as a movie and would be worth watching even if the
film were total fiction. Deeply moving stuff.
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