The Hurricane [DVD] [2000]

You could call what happened to Rubin Carter a travesty of justice, yet even this term barely begins to explain Carter's plight. He was tried and convicted of the murder of three individuals in a New Jersey bar in 1967 for two reasons: he was black and he was successful. He and a fan were heading home in a white car when they were pulled over, hauled over to a murder scene they knew nothing about and then to the hospital to see if anyone could identify them as the murderers - which no one did. This did not stop the lead detective from arresting and trying them for murder - by suppressing evidence and forging documents, not to mention engineering the false testimony of quite impeachable witnesses, the police and prosecutors got their conviction. Rubin Carter's boxing career was over, and this man - who could have been the middle-weight champion of the world - found himself looking at three life sentences for a crime he did not commit.

Much of this film examines Carter's response to the crushing weight of prison and the repeated denials of his appeals over two decades (somewhat strangely, it mentions but does not dramatize the second trial he managed to get - and lose). Along the way, we flash back to the important events of Carter's childhood and early adulthood - including some of his overpowering victories in the ring. Another story converges with Carter's as the movie progresses, though. A young man from Brooklyn, who has been taken under the wing of three working partners in Toronto - who teach him to read and help him prepare for the college education he longs to have - buys Carter's autobiography at a used book sale - it's the first book he has ever bought. Reading Carter's story, young Lesra Martin feels a close connection to the man and decides to write him a letter. A friendship emerges between Carter and Martin, and eventually Martin's Toronto friends and teachers all risk their careers if not their very lives to help Carter win his release from prison. Even though you know how the story turns out, the final scenes are wondrous moments of cinematic art full of raw emotional power.

This movie does run a little long, coming in at just under two and a half hours, but you'll be so absorbed by the story you won't even realize how much time passes. Denzel Washington does a remarkable job as Ruben Carter, and the supporting cast is stellar as well. Hurricane affects you across the whole range of emotions: hatred for the crooked cops and prosecutors, disgust with those who not only feel racism but use it as a weapon to subvert justice and ruin a man, growing admiration for Carter as he deals with year upon year of incarceration, deep respect for those who risk their own livelihoods in order to open the eyes of Lady Justice, and the moving joy of hope fulfilled and the eventual triumph of good over evil. The film may not be historically accurate in all its details, but Hurricane is about as real as it gets. This is just an extraordinary motion picture.

Washington should have one an Oscar for this- though the same can be said for his performances in 'Cry Freedom' & 'Malcolm X'. As with 'Ali', it does tend to paint the zeitgeist in obvious 'Forrest Gump'-by numbers: soul-songs, footage of civil rights demos, the pictures of Rosa Parks? This feels a little clumsy and forced- and gets away from the fact that our hero was away from all of this (the somewhat messy structure doesn't help either- if you're going to cut back & forth time- there must be good reason!). The boxing element seems a little underplayed- you wonder if it was worth Washington training for a year (this is not something that you can level at the best boxing film, 'Raging Bull').

'The Hurricane' is a fairly standard melodrama, Jewison avoids the grey area (such as the white paedophile whom the 11-year old Carter stabs)- this is a story about the difference between guilty & innocent. This film is quite touching though- in the ideas of attaining enlightenment and transcendence through education and fraternity. It would be worth seeing just for Washington's performance alone- though Vicellous Reon Shannon, Dan Hedaya and Deborah Kara-Unger (suffering a brief flashback to her role in 'Crash' at one point) all acquit themselves well.

'The Hurricane' does feel a little old-fashioned at times- which is part of its problem and part of its charm. I don't think it is up-there with the best biopics of recent years- 'Ed Wood', 'Nixon', 'Patton', 'Raging Bull', 'Reds' etc- but it is as good as 'Ali'- though unlike Michael Mann's film it gives you a protaganist you can empathise with. Plus it made me want to listen to Dylan's song and read Carter's book (which appears to be out of print). The extras are fairly standard- the conventional 8-minute studio feature that tells you very little. Pity, as the fall from grace of many a great African-American boxer seems all too frequent- from Liston to Tyson. And part of this is due to the racist enviroment that they have been forced to endure- the very thing that wrongly convicted Carter- who is a true "American hero".