Storm in a teacup...but a good brew

Rating: Null/10 (2 May 2000)

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (Denzel Washington) sums up the flavour of this movie in the opening few minutes when, after being told by policeman that they are looking for "two negroes in a white car", he replies "Any two will do?".
So begins this account of 60's middle weight boxing champ "the Hurricane" and his 22 year fight for freedom out of a system which worked against the seemingly simple fact that he was a black man in a white man's world. The script writers have interwoven moments from Rubin's past with the mid 80's when most of the film's action takes place. A young black man, Lazurus, or Lesra (Vicellous Reon Shannon) stumbles upon the autobiography of Rubin Hurricane Carter, and with his three Canadian 'home tutors', Lisa (Deborah Kara Unger), Sam (Liev Schreiber) and Terry (John Hannah), decides to fight for Rubin's release from prison. Attempting to constantly foil any attempts at justice is the 'bad' cop, Della Pesca, (Dan Hedaya), who has been hounding Rubin since childhood and seems determined to keep him behind bars.
Denzel Washington does well in the title role and applies himself with his usual commitment to creating a whole and believable character, especially important in such a movie that is based on real events and people. Watch out for the prison scene with Mae, his wife and the scene where he meets Lesra for the first time. This latter especially I found very powerful - it was well shot, the dialogue was tight and their relationship is beautifully established. And not to forget the prison scene with Myron (David Paymer) and Leon (Harris Yulin) his lawyers - this may just snare Denzel the Oscar. His supporting cast also do a fine job -Vicellour Reon Shannon, although a little wooden at first, seems to grow into his role (which I guess fits the character quite well) and Unger, Schreiber and Hannah as the three Canadians do a solid job also. Rod Steiger's cameo as Judge Sarokin is noteworthy as is Mitchell Taylor Jnr's role as young Rubin.
The screenplay itself is possibly a little long. The first hour takes us through flashes of Rubin's early life and concludes with his conviction, intercut with Lesra's growing fascination with the case. We then speed up a little with the ongoing case and a reconstruction of what actually happened the night of the murder - the film culminating with Rubin's final appeal to have the conviction overthrown. However there were many loose ends - what happened to Mae (Debbi Morgan), his wife? Why don't we see much of John Artis (Garland Whitt), his supposed accomplice? I wanted to know where these characters ended up - something one does eventually discover, but until the closing credits.
And yet on the other hand, the movie tries to go into too much detail about other issues and left me feeling that, despite it's feature film quality, it might better have been made as a mini series or two part telemovie, in which case the loose ends could have been tied up and the overall length more appropriate.
Production values are high and there is some especially nice camerawork, most clearly seen in the emotionally charged scenes mentioned above.
Overall, a 'good' movie - quite compelling because it is a true story. It does lose some of its impact because it comes at the tail end of several decades of movies about racial injustice and inequality (which although still an important issue, is not so 'filmic' anymore.