Denzel Washington Shines In The Hurricane

Rating: 10/10 (23 December 2011)

The film,Hurricane,tells the story of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, whose conviction for a Paterson, New Jersey triple murder was set aside after he had spent almost 20 years in prison.It stars Denzel Washington in the title role together with Vicellous Reon Shannon,Deborah Kara Unger,Liev Schreiber,John Hannah,Dan Hedaya,and Debbi Morgan.The script was adapted by Armyan Bernstein and Dan Gordon from the books Lazarus and the Hurricane by Sam Chaiton and Terry Swinton and The Sixteenth Round by Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, and it was directed by Norman Jewison.
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was a top-ranked middleweight boxer whom many fight fans expected to become world champion. When three people were shot to death in a bar in Paterson, New Jersey, Carter and his friend John Artis, driving home from another club in Paterson, were stopped and questioned by police. Although the police asserted that Carter and Artis "were never suspects," a man named Alfred Bello, himself a suspect in the killings, claimed that Carter and Artis were present at the time of the murders. On the basis of Bello's testimony, Carter and Artis were convicted of murder, and Carter was given three consecutive life sentences. Throughout the trial, Carter proclaimed his innocence, saying that his African-American race and work as a civil rights activist were the real reasons for his conviction. In 1974, Bello and Arthur Bradley, who also claimed that Carter was present at the scene of the crimes, recanted their testimony, but Carter and Artis were re-convicted. In the early 1980s, Brooklyn teenager Lesra Martin worked with a trio of Canadian activists to push the State of New Jersey to re-investigate Carter's case; in 1985, a Federal District Court ruled that the prosecution in Carter's second trial committed "grave constitutional violations" and that his conviction was based on racism rather than facts. Carter was finally freed, and he summed up his story by saying, "Hate got me into this place, love got me out."
This is a truly inspiring movie of a man who has suffered severely and managed to rise above the conditions that he has been through.Although the movie was criticized for misrepresenting many of the facts of Carter's life and the case itself, as documented in both his criminal and military records, and police reports and court documentation,it was a good movie that could serve inspiration to many people who have been against many odds and who have been barely managing to make ends meet in life. Denzel Washington gives an amazing performance as Rubin Carter as he captured the viewer's sympathy from the moment he appeared on screen until the end when he was freed.His performance was a powerful and compelling film. It was truly an expertly crafted, deeply moving biopic of an imprisoned boxer.