Singleton s camera regards the ensuing atrocity with a mixture of unblinking documentary style and fleeting glimpses of horror. The technique explicitly recalls Spielberg s shocking ghetto-liquidation scene in Schindler's List , with the added chilling knowledge that this happened in this country, in this century. But Gregory Poirier s script gives these great actors room to dig deep. Ving Rhames is warmer and more open than I ve seen him before, and Voight, as a man torn between fear and compassion, does his most detailed work in years. Which poses a question.
Rosewood does it a lot better.
The sense one gets from Rosewood is that John Singleton was eager to tell a horrifying but ultimately satisfying story in which black people score a small win against the most appalling racism. As in Schindler's List , you win by surviving or fleeing. Singleton makes sure his fleeing heroes do some damage, too.