The Hurricane, by Leslie Adams, got 4stars from 4!
"Hate put me here, and love is gonna bust me out".
Words spoken by Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, after he is put in prison for crimes he did not commit. This sets the theme for the movie, "The Hurricane", which is one of the best movies of 1999 [2000 - Webmaster]. The movie has passionately told, and illustrates a beautiful friendship between The Hurricane, and a young boy named Lesra. It also contains the best performance of the year, by Denzel Washington, as a man who is put in prison by hate, but finds redemption, and freedom, in the end.
"The Hurricane" starts as we see a couple of flashbacks of Rubin's childhood, and boxing career. We see an incident, where a young Rubin, stabs a very important man, while defending his friend. This is when we meet Della Pesca, the detective who makes Rubin's life a living hell. He is sent to Juvenile hall until he is 21, but escapes and goes into the army. When he returns, he is put back in jail, to finish his sentence. While in Prison, he makes it his goal to turn his body into a lethal weapon. When he gets out, he immediately goes into boxing, and is a star.
One night, after leaving a late night party, he is driving home, and gets pulled over by the police. He is detained, and charged with the murder of several waitress' and customers that were at another bar across town. Two witness' saw two black men, driving away in a white car. But they lie, and say that it was Carter, and the young man driving him home.
So he is given a life sentence, and is put in prison. In a powerful scene, he refuses to wear standard prison clothing, because "guilty men wear those clothes", and he is innocent. So he is put into the hole for his first 90 days of prison. During his time in prison he writes a book about his life, called "The Sixteenth Round", which gets published. A boy named Lesra sees it at a used book sale, and buys it for 25 cents. He is inspired by the book, and finds a new outlook on life as a result. He sends Rubin a heartfelt letter, and eventually goes to meet him. Soon after he is part of a new group helping to appeal Rubin's sentence, which eventually leads to his freedom.
The friendship between Lesra, and Carter, is beautifully written, and is heartfelt. The scenes they shared were the moments of touching truth, and beautiful compassion. I also liked the friendships between Carter, and the group that was taking care of Lesra.
I also liked the movie based on the way it stays true to it's material, and never exploits it. The racism is a major theme in the movie, but isn't a side track to the story being told. And the prison life isn't looked into deeply, like such movies as "The Shawshank Redemption", and "The Green Mile". That would also be a side track. These are just surroundings to two redemptions in this movie. One comes from Carter, as he learns to trust the people who are trying to help him. They are all white, and immediatly turns down their efforts to help him, but soon accepts them into his heart, as they are wanting to help him. The second comes from Lesra, in the way he finds his true calling in life, with the help of Carter.
The performance by Denzel Washington is the best this year. He portray's Carter as a man, who is determined to fight for his own life. He is never brought down to the level of those trying to destroy him. He never quits trying, and never gets bogged down. His love is strong, and his spirit is a force to be reckoned with. Washington had better be nominated for an award here.
By the end of the movie I was totally absorbed in the story of "The Hurricane". The story itself, the compassion that was put into every scene, and the performance by Denzel Washington, all make "The Hurricane" a powerful motion picture, that will bring a tear to your eye. This truley was "the story of hurricane".
Cast:
Rubin Carter: Denzel Washington
Lesra: Vicellous Reon Shannon
Lisa: Deborah Kara Unger
Sam: Liev Schreiber
Terry: John Hannah
Della Pesca: Dan Hedaya
Directed by Norman Jewison
Rated 14A: Violence, coarse language.
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