Fences

Troy Maxson, the talkative main character in “Fences,” wasn’t written for Denzel Washington. However, the actor, who played the character in a 2010 Broadway revival of August Wilson’s 1983 play, populates him completely in the 2016 film adaptation.

Craig Mathieson said in his review, “Riding a rubbish truck in 1950s Pittsburgh, Troy is a showboat who dominates the conversation, pausing only for breath and to garner assent.” He doesn’t always see that he fails to get it, but keeps going nonetheless.

Mathieson said, “Fences is Washington's third film as director, and it never pushes to truly escape being stage bound.” The beginning parts, with Troy arriving home from work with his friend and coworker, Jim Bono (Stephen McKinley Henderson), and meeting his wife, Rose (Viola Davis), are, as Mathieson describes, “Full of declamatory sentences looking for the back row. But they're rich, telling sentences, and they don't really need the occasionally ostentatious circling camera and crane shots that punctuate the story.”

Mathieson continues, “Troy's words reveal him as that 20th-century theatrical mainstay: the dictatorial, hypocritical patriarch.” A great baseball player whose prime years were before the game was desegregated, Troy’s disappointed knowledge is his reason to lecture others, most notably his grown son from his footloose youth years, hopeful musician Lyons (Russell Hornsby), and high school athlete Corey (Jovan Adepo). The son of a sharecropper, their father has little positivity about America and how it could better his family.

Despite Rose’s doubts, Troy puts boundaries in front of their son both small and major, whether it’s wanting the sour teenager help him build the fence that comes to represent the family’s divisions or refusing to sign university scholarship papers. However, Troy’s wants irritate him, mainly how he treats his brother Gabe, played by Mykelti Williamson, whose payment for World War II injuries that left him brain damaged paid for Troy’s home.

Mathieson said, “"Better get ready for the judgment," repeatedly declares Gabe, a kind of holy fool who speaks the truth, and no one has to remind Davis. One of the pleasures of Fences is seeing Washington's dominant technique – that swaggering walk, the hardening of his voice when challenged – get batted back by the visceral force of Davis' performance.” She’s one of the great film actors, and the strengths she takes Rose to balances the movie.

Mathieson said, “Davis has a stinging line that could be a fierce and fitting close to the story, but unfortunately there's a good 20 minutes tacked on after it. Fences not only runs long, it indulges a redemptive urge for Troy that unnecessarily softens his failings.” Washington’s film doesn’t need to give forgiveness to a character who never gave it to those who loved him.

I read Fences when I was a senior in high school, then I read it again in my last semester at Community College before I graduated and transferred to a Four-Year University. I really loved this play and I did see a couple of scenes on YouTube of the Broadway play. When I found out they were making a movie adaptation of it, I was excited. However, I didn’t see it in theaters, but as a rental from the library. This is actually a really good film adaptation of a play that, to what I can gather, never really had a film adaptation. We actually have Denzel Washington to thank for giving us an amazing film adaptation of this play. Definitely check this one out, especially if you have read the play. This is an absolute must for “Black History Month.” I think everyone will love this film.

Alright everyone, check in next week for not only the finale to this year’s “Black History Movie Month,” but also for this year’s “President’s Day Movie Review.”