Fences

Score:  ****1/2 out of ***** (A)

Directed by Denzel Washington
Starring Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Jovan Adepo
Running time: 139 minutes
Rated PG-13

Long Story Short:  Fences is the film adaptation of a play by August Wilson; it stars, in fact, the lead actors from the Broadway show of 2010.  Denzel and Viola are incredible, a dynamic duo whose characters' lives speak not just to the African American experience but to any family.  Wilson's simple yet compelling and powerful story translates just fine from stage to screen, with loads of great dialogue and interactions that keep you riveted.  Highly recommended for all.


Pittsburgh garbage collector Troy Maxson (Washington) has a seemingly traditional 1950s life, with a wife, teenage son, and home of his own.  After work each day, Troy shoots the breeze with best friend Jim (Henderson), reminiscing about the old days while waiting for dinner.  However, a world of complexity and pain lies beneath the surface for Troy.  His mentally disabled brother, Gabe (Williamson), wanders the streets and Troy often gets him out of trouble.  His adult son, Lyons (Hornsby), struggles to support his own family in the way his father does.  Both Lyons, and younger son Cory (Adepo), strive at making their dreams (in music and football) a reality - which only makes Troy look back at his own dashed dreams with regret.  All the while, his loyal wife Rose (Davis) stands by his side, somehow finding the strength to make the physical and emotional effort of keeping the family together.  But when Troy reveals a secret to his family, they are all forced to confront not just the painful differences that have separated them, but also the parts that join them all together.

Fences benefits from a very talented ensemble that breathes life into the story.  Denzel Washington and Viola Davis are the leads, and both bring much experience to their parts: they each won Tony awards for their work in the Broadway play.  Their comfort with the roles is clear on screen, as they both simply disappear into the characters.  Denzel's is one of the most emotional and animated that I have ever seen - his Troy wears his heart on his sleeve - and also one of the best in general that I've seen.  He is usually energetic, even if crankily so, and Denzel powers through extended scenes of dialogue with tremendous endurance and focus.  Through his eyes and face and voice, you can easily see what a damaged soul Troy is, yet Denzel lowers his defenses enough, at times, to show his vulnerability, too.  Viola Davis is equally brilliant, albeit in a much less showy role (although she gets a few moments, too).  Credit goes to August Wilson, of course, for making the wife of the focal character as deep and complex as she is, but Davis pulls off the great feat of making her presence known at all times, while not hogging all the attention.  Her Rose is a model of strength and courage and Davis' performance is at least as important as the script in doing so.  All of the supporting roles are superbly done, too: from Troy's friend Jim (Stephen M. Henderson), the affable man of deep wisdom; to Lyons (Russell Hornsby), the distant yet warm son and Cory (Jovan Adepo) the passionate adolescent son.  Multiple Oscar nominations are deserving here.

Fences is an excellent film adaptation of a very interesting and powerful play by August Wilson.  It is important to first note, if you haven't yet seen it, that the style of the action retains its roots from the stage.  Not only is it set almost entirely in the Maxson family home, but there is continual dialogue (I say this because my attention tends to wander a little while watching films, since dialogue is usually less constant - but you can't do that with this one!).  This all was just fine with me, and it fits the needs of the characters and story quite well; it's a testament to the strength of the script and the performances, though, that such a style does not drag at all during a two hour-twenty minute run time.  Denzel is the tour de force here, but there is room for a complex set of issues not just within him but for his individual family members as well.  Of course, the story and characters speak volumes about the African American experience: the resentment of the treatment of blacks, and indoctrination of "their place" in society, which itself powerfully limits even a strong, capable man like Troy - beyond even the de jure means of oppression.  I would argue, though, that it is even more interested (and interesting) in terms of even broader ideas of family.  Troy's early experiences, race-related and otherwise, strongly shaped him.  And tragically, even as he did all he could not to raise a family the way his father did, the avoidance of those evils also created a different kind of oppression for his own family.  The film's ending, with Troy's family coming to terms with his legacy from their various perspectives, speaks powerfully to these themes with love and compassion.

***

A great, bread-and-butter drama, Fences works beautifully as a film even as it retains much of its style as a play.  The adapted script - started by Wilson and completed by fellow Pulitzer-prize winning Tony Kushner (Wilson died in 2005) - is just fantastic.  Wilson's framework is tried-and-true yet also creates characters and a story with true life; and I'm guessing that Kushner's work helped make it even more appropriate for the big screen, while retaining the intimacy of the stage.  The entire cast is equally deserving of praise, especially Washington and Davis, of conveying these people and their thoughts and emotions - and not in brief snippets, but in long, heavy doses of intense and evolving dialogue and action.  It's instantly among the strongest overall dramas I've seen, with universal appeal and relevance.  Highly recommended.



By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51925252