'3 Black Chicks Review...'
The Hurricane (1999) Rated R; running time 146 minutes Genre: Drama IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0174856 Official site: http://www.universalpictures.com/hurricane/ Written by: Written by Armyan Bernstein (based on the book by Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter) Directed by: Norman Jewison Starring:Denzel Washington, Vicellous Reon Shannon, Dan Hedaya, Deborah Unger, Liev Schreiber, John Hannah, Debbi Morgan, David Paymer, Harris Yulin, Clancy Brown, Rod Steiger, Garland Whitt
Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 Review URL: http://www.3blackchicks.com/bamshurricane.html
If you've either never heard the true story of Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter and how he was imprisoned for more than 20 years for crimes he didn't commit, or you can't infer whether he was released or not from the tone of the trailers that have been shown, you might not want to read this review, since I'll be pulling no punches in telling what happened at the end. After all, I respect my readers' intelligence.
The Story (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**): A strong contender for the middleweight boxing title during the 60s, Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter's (Denzel Washington) hopes were dashed when he and John Artis (Garland Whitt) were sentenced to three life terms and imprisoned for 20 years for murders he didn't commit. This is his story...
...and it is also the story of an unlikely group of folks from Canada (one, by way of Brooklyn): Lesra Martin (Vicellous Reon Shannon), a young Black teen from Brooklyn, being homeschooled in Toronto by three White Canadians, Lisa Peters (Deborah Unger), Sam Chaiton (Liev Schreiber), and Terry Swinton (John Hannah). By a strange twist of fate, Lesra finds a book written by Rubin about his unjust imprisonment, and he is so moved by it and his feverent belief in Rubin's innocence, that he convinces the Canadians to help him set Rubin free. But not without a fight; they come up against pure evil, in the form of Det. Vincent Della Pesca (Dan Hedaya), a dirty, racist cop who's been after Carter for years, and does all he can to see that Rubin remains locked up.
The Upshot (WARNING: **more spoilers contained below**) Let me get this out of the way: Denzel Washington, Vicellous Reon Shannon, and Dan Hedaya were outstanding in this film. Washington, we've seen go "all-out" before, so his strong performance didn't surprise me at all. Hedaya is one of those character actors that you know you've seen a million time, but can't put your finger on where, exactly; he's played Funny ("Cheers") as well as straight drama ("Nixon"), but never before has he sent chills down my spine as he did here. But Shannon really impressed me in the strangest of ways: every time he spoke, I said to myself, "his voice and his body don't match". For some reason, I kept expecting to hear a "softer" voice, but sure enough, his heavy Brooklyn accent came through each time. But beyond that, Shannon's portrayal of Lesra's passionate belief in Rubin, and in his place in Rubin's life, astonished me--and will hopefully move him beyond the Obligatory Thug Roles that the IMDB lists him as having played so frequently in the past (if there's any justice in Hollywood. Notice that I'm not holding my breath).
The story itself, though moving, felt somewhat hollow. Though of course Rubin couldn't know what became of John Artis while they were both in prison, I felt short-changed by the offhand mention of him throughout the film, and especially at the end. I also got somewhat dizzy during the flashback/flashforward sequences; though the boxing scenes were beautifully shot in black and white, they felt cut-n-pasted on, and I could never fully understand their true significance to the story being told. And one has to wonder how, after Rubin's lawyers Myron Beldoc (David Paymer) and Harris Yulin (Leon Friedman) spent ten years on a case that was heard by two juries, the Canadians could come along and...well, see for yourself. Something else bothered me, involving Rubin's wife, Mae Thelma (Debbie Morgan) and the scene from the trailers which show Rubin telling her to "bury him". Unfortunately, saying exactly what bothered me, would call for more spoilage than I'm prepared to do, so I'll have to wait to discuss this with the curious reader after they've has seen the movie. Still, in spite of its padding (a half-hour could've easily been excised from this movie, with little detriment), "The Hurricane" spins a good tale; fractured, in places, but still told reasonably well.
Besides the performances of the three leads mentioned above, most of the other cast seemed pretty mute. Liev Schreiber was almost invisible in a role that one would think would provide ample opportunity for him to shine in--especially since his character's (Sam Chaiton) book is given a writing credit in the film. Unger and Hannah were almost as marginal; until their stint at private eye-ism, they could just as well have been shown as Lesra's babysitters, to no real detriment to the story. And what a wasted opportunity the movie's Powers That Be made in not using Clancy Brown to his fullest potential; he's played prison guards enough before that casting him as Jimmy Williams, the Guard With A Heart (But Not Much To Do), made little sense to me. But still, not as little sense as the casting of Rod Steiger as Judge H. Lee Sorokin. Maybe I'm the only one who saw "Crazy In Alabama", and therefore, saw Steiger's Judge there. Played as an absolute loon in that film, Steiger worked; here, he was just more flotsam. But maybe I'm too picky.
The use of period music throughout the film was excellent, even Bob "damn, I can't sing!" Dylan's song, "Hurricane", written during the time when Dylan was one of a few celebrities (along with Ellen Burstyn and Muhammad Ali) who were trying to get Rubin set free early on in his sentence. Their involvement (or lack thereof) over time was a key point made by Beldoc, when Lesra and the Canadians came to confront him in what Beldoc surely saw as Guilty White Liberalism at its worst.
The "Black Factor" [ObDisclaimer: We Are Not A Monolith]: Actually, since the BF is pretty clear in this flick, consider this space The "White Factor". And let's go one step further: since Della Pesca's (and those like him) rabid racism need no explanation, let's examine the "Guilty White Liberal Factor", shall we?
Guilty White Liberals make an easy target; they seem to come in like a whirlwind, upset the status quo, do what they see as The Right Thing for those poor heathens who they deem worthy of their patronage, and leave after their Guilt is assuaged, right? Well, maybe. And maybe the three Guilty White Liberals from Canada took pity on both Rubin and Lesra, and by helping them, they purged themselves of their Guilt long enough to look back at their lives and feel they've Done Good--much to the consternation of those other poor heathens left behind in their wake who weren't so lucky as to gain the favor of those Guilty White Liberals. Maybe that's the way some see it.
To those "some", ask yourself this: is Rubin still in that prison?
And as for the fellow (self-identified as being White) who, after he read Diva's "The Hurricane" review, took it upon himself to scold 3BC, saying we should be ashamed for not slamming "The Hurricane" for deifying those Guilty White Liberals? Pardon my French, but he can baise mon bel noir ane.
Bammer's Bottom Line Overall, a powerful story that feels padded in spots (especially those involving the Danger! the Canadians were in, and how they so "easily" did what others couldn't do over the period of 15 or so years. Yeah, right.), featuring bravura performances by Washington, Shannon, and Hedaya that should not be missed, but will likely be ignored come Oscar night.
"The Hurricane": (rating: greenlight) A knockout.
3 Black Chicks...Movie Reviews With Flava! /~\ Rose "Bams" Cooper /','\ 3BlackChicks Enterprises /','`'\ Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 /',',','/`, EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com ICQ: 7760005 `~-._'c / http://www.3blackchicks.com/ `\ ( http://www.dealpilot.com/?partner=1987 /====\
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