Susan Granger’s review of “THE HURRICANE” (Universal Pictures)
Denzel Washington delivers an intense, Oscar-worthy performance of overwhelming power and humanity as Ruben “Hurricane” Carter, whose dreams of winning the middleweight boxing title were destroyed when he was arrested for a triple murder in a New Jersey bar. Wrongfully convicted and sentenced to three life terms in prison, Carter channels his frustration and despair into writing his story, The 16th Round, saying: “Writing is a weapon more powerful than any fist can ever be.” Although he’s vowed to withdraw from the outside world, Carter’s touched when a alienated American youth, Lezra Martin (Vicellous Shannon), living in Canada, buys his book and sends him a letter. “Sometimes we don’t pick the books we read, they pick us,” Carter notes. As a friendship evolves, the determined 15 year-old enlists his guardians (Deborah Unger, John Hannah, Liev Schreiber) to mount a full-time campaign to prove Carter’s innocence. “Hate put me in prison,” Carter declares. “Love’s gonna get me out.” Writers Armyan Bernstein & Dan Gordon with director Norman Jewison weave a rich, eloquent tapestry, revealing the racism that overcame reason, the concealment that prevented full disclosure. Dan Hedaya is brutal as the corrupt prosecutor, and Rod Steiger is effective as the federal judge. Two quibbles: (1) at 2 hours, 20 minutes, it’s repetitious and (2) I wanted more about Lezra’s social activist guardians. Nevertheless, on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, The Hurricane is a chilling, compelling 10 – a triumph of the human spirit and one of the best movies of the year. Although they evoke a shameful past, we need movies like these to remind us about the injustice and racial prejudice that has been and still remains an integral part of America.
