"That son of a bitch is brave and getting braver"

Rating: Null/10 (2 October 2011)

You can't help but be inspired by Denzel Washington. The charisma and wonderful wit he adds to fictional characters is something to behold, but the power and the integrity he adds to his portrayals of real life individuals is nothing short of outstanding. Here in Norman Jewison's "The Hurricane", he brings Rubin "Hurricane" carter to life with such raw emotion and intensity that this performance at least equals the high standards set by his portrayal of controversial civil rights leader Malcolm X. That film is superior in my opinion , but this is still an excellent film enriched by Washington's performance. This, a performance really showing "The Hurricane" as a man that throughout a heinous and unjustified stint in prison was as Dylan said "a son of bitch that was brave and getting braver".
Norman Jewison's directing is very accomplished, displaying cut scenes of racial violence showing the gross malpractices of police in sixties America in many parts towards African Americans. He also cuts to scenes of real life protests for Rubin Carter's release from imprisonment aptly surrounded by the sound of Dylan's "The Hurricane". I like these scenes as once they finished and returned to Rubin in prison, a nearly broken man, you really felt his helplessness. Despite the protests, they mattered little to him, isolated in a small cramped cell, trapped, as he had being in different circumstances for far too long of his natural life. I also felt Harris Yulin and David Paymer as his legal representatives as well as also Dan Hedaya as a corrupt cop were all very impressive in their relatively small roles. You really believe Hedaya as a desperately bitter individual with little moral fiber.
Vicellous Reon Shannon as Lesra Martin grew in his particular role, I felt as the film progressed.However in some early scenes, he seemed a bit too simple such as the mad jumping at the arrival of one of Rubins letters, proclaiming "he wrote back" repeatedly like some hyper kid who had drank too much Coca Cola from the fridge. Overall though he was reasonably good. However his Canadian friends made up of actors Deborah Kara Unger, liev Schreiber and John Hannah were at times just awful. There was some dialogue between them that might as well have being performed by robots for all that convincing it was , which is strange cause all three actors have being excellent in other roles, particularly Hannah, who was brilliant in his role in "Four Weddings And A Funeral(1994). Their not key though as Washington dominates the screen, so it's a small gripe, I guess. But still It was annoying.
One scene where Unger's character answers a very distressing and emotional call from carter is kind of laughable due to her response to the other Canadians and Lesra. In the scene, It would have being just as effective for me if she turned and said "that was Rubin, he's a bit sad... oh well, do you want to go to a field and rake some leaves?". That's how inadequate I felt that particular scene was, which is clumsily cut away from, but the acting made it feel extra like a clumsy cut.Incidentally, there is some strange joke about Canadians past times being limited to raking leaves, which doesn't really work, I think.
Back to the triumphs of this film. Most the cast is terrific, whether it be in flashbacks of Rubin's earlier life, his prison life(notably Clancy Brown, playing sort of a similar, but yet opposite role to his character in the Shawshank Redemption) or also, the latter time setting of his final drive for freedom, after meeting Lesra (Mostly). I would also like to praise the late Badja Djola, who is fantastic in his minor role as a sort of wise man in "the hurricanes" prison. Jewison also gets a terrific shot of him near the end I thought, coming out of a cell. Jewison's directing is as you would expect well thought out and carried out with great aplomb showcasing him as a true master of the trait of cinema. The pacing of the story may drag slightly but it is also very well done all the same, script wise,in fairness to Armyan Bernstein and Dan Gordon, who adapted it.
The key part of this films success though lies with the wonderful Washington, who shows Carters loneliness, despair, anger, hurt and determination with incredible passion and intensity displayed prominently in one scene where the hurricane proclaims to his lawyers in jail in a sad whimper "I am fifty years old...fifty years old!". He goes on to declare his desire to be free. He showcases all those mentioned characteristics at once. The scene is a triumph and the acting of Washington is quite simply superb. It captures Rubin Carter entirely as he was and how he came to be The Hurricane as a fighter as well as a free man. The film may drag a tad at times, telling it's tale, but for a biopic on this man, that tale is what the audience wants to see and boy does Washington carry the day.