The catalyst for Carter's eventual release is young Lesra, whose first book purchase ever is Carter's memoir, The Sixteenth Round, written in prison. Lesra is originally from Brooklyn, but he has been taken in by a trio of Canadians who teach him to read and prepare him for college because... well, because they're Canadian and they're nice. [Never mind that one "Canadian" has a Brooklyn accent (Liev Schreiber), another sports a Scottish brogue (John Hannah), and the third looks like the alien that abducted Whitley Strieber (Deborah Kara Unger).] These Canadians set to work on digging up 30-year-old evidence with that earnest Canadian decency and wind up doing what Muhammad Ali, Bob Dylan, and Ellen Burstyn failed to do: free "The Hurricane."
Front and center in nearly every frame of the film is Denzel Washington, and he is stunning. It's a testament to his skill that he can make touching and true what would sound corny and pedantic in lesser hands. He had me tearing up in a couple of scenes -- and not the ones you'd expect, not the climactic courtroom scenes, but small gems tucked in the middle of the movie. And goddamn, does he look fine! Vicellous Reon Shannon, as Lesra, is also terrific -- his starstruck, wide-eyed delight when Carter answers his first letter is one of the scenes that brought tears to my eyes. And I always like Liev Schreiber and John Hannah.
The stellar performances make you ache for what this movie could have been in the hands of a passionate, daring director. Nothing against Norman Jewison -- Moonstruck is one of my favorite films -- but "workmanlike" is the adjective that comes to mind. You could never instantly peg a film as a Jewison oeuvre the way you can with Spike Lee or Martin Scorsese. He just doesn't know how to handle eloquent, passionate material like this, so he falls back on clunky, clichéd scenes that wouldn't stand up if not for the cast. The boxing scenes are oddly unconvincing, despite their slavish replication of Raging Bull, down to the black and white and the sweat and blood flying in slo-mo. Actually, it comes as no surprise to find out from the IMDB that Jewison is Canadian -- decent and inoffensive, but hardly bold or inspiring.
The Hurricane is a long film, and you feel it, although that's not a bad thing -- by the time it's over, you feel like you've been through an epic. This is such a powerful story with such moving performances that even the pedestrian storytelling can't screw it up. Definite recommendation. Just try not to think about how great it could have been.
Now, let's get those industrious Canadians to work on Leonard Peltier.
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