# Hurricane, The (1999)

### reviewed by
Berge Garabedian

    THE HURRICANE
    RATING: 7.5 /10 --> Very good movie

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Denzel Washington has never been afraid to play the part of a man who triumphs in the face of adversity, and this true life tale of Rubin Carter, a man who was wrongly imprisoned for over 19 years, sure fits that bill to the tee. Washington shines in another great role which actually has you feeling some of the pain and anguish of a man, whose unimaginable ordeal could only make one wonder about the absurdity of our own everyday insignificant complaints.

PLOT: Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a champion boxer, is wrongly convicted of a murder and spends close to twenty years in prison. Appeal after appeal, march after march and outcry after outcry does not set this man free, until the day that a young black man picks up his book at a fair, and along with his three Canadian friends, attempt to free the man who has been unjustly placed behind bars for the better half of his life.

CRITIQUE: A powerful, moving and emotional drama ready to replenish you with spirit and determination in the face of adversity, while demonstrating once again, the superior acting talents of a man who goes by the name of Denzel Washington. In fact, his cohort in this film, Vicellous Reon Shannon, also swings the bat for a homer in his first major role, as the duo combine to draw some believable faces onto a story which is just too unbelievable to imagine. Don't get me wrong, despite it being a true-to-life story, it is all too sad to have to admit that I had heard plenty of similar tales beforehand, but thankfully for us all, the magical touch of Denzel Washington just made this film invigorating and inspiring to behold. And yes, I hope to God the Academy tips their hat to this wonderful actor once again this time around. He plays him cocky, he plays him blissful, he plays him violent, he plays him soft-spoken, in fact, he plays the man through many of the colors that he explored throughout his lifetime. The story, a classic, is one of triumph over adversity, persistence over resignation, love over hate, and ultimately, one of justice over injustice, but truly it speaks of the power of the human spirit.

Would any one of us have been able to survive the terrible ordeal that this man had to endure for all those years? Everything taken away from him. His life, his job, his kids, his wife, his dignity, his everything! And what do you say about those four people who decided to dedicate their entire lives to getting this man out of prison? A man who they barely knew! Yes, even the "Hurricane" himself said that he would not have been able to do that for another. Actually, that was the one part of the story which I wished they had explored further. Those Canadians. What was their story? Who were they really? The film barely speaks of them in detailed terms and skates around the issue of their actual professions, and even their ultimate intentions to do the things that they did. Don't get me wrong, they are admirable without a doubt, but I would have liked to have known more about them (The Little Known Facts below might shed a little light on that, JoBlo :). The film was also a little slow at parts, but I think the pacing was done purposely in order for us to better appreciate the snail-like grind of this man's solitary experience. All in all, the secondary actors all could have been snapped up a notch or two, but none of that really mattered much with the knockout performance from Denzel as Rubin.

Rarely does a film transcend the level of a good film and become one with greater connotations simply because of its lead performance, but THE HURRICANE is just that. Now give that man an Oscar, dammit!

Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: A recent interview with the real Rubin Carter and Lesra Martin on the Oprah Winfrey show confirmed a couple of greater coincidences in their life stories which were not accurately depicted in the film. 1. For one, the first letter which Lesra wrote to Rubin in jail, was actually just one letter amongst the hundreds of messages that Hurricane would receive in jail. In fact, he never wrote back to any of them, but for some strange and inexplicable reason, he found himself spiritually attracted to that one letter in the pack. He opened it, read it and was deeply touched by it. As per the film, Rubin finally sat down at his typewriter and wrote Lesra back a thank-you letter. The rest...is history. 2. A similar experience overcame Lesra when he first spotted Rubin's book at the Toronto book fair. In fact, he felt as though the cover of the book itself "spoke to him", and actually spent around two hours following the man who was holding the book at the fair, until he finally dropped it and Lesra made it his own purchase. To clear up the "Canadians question", it turns out that in the actual story, there were nine Canadians who lived and worked together on the Carter case. However, for the sake of developing well-rounded and believable characters with whom the audience could relate, the nine became three. Those folks were basically the three who actually went to New Jersey and did most of the legwork on the case. This film is based on two books. The first was written by the man on whom the entire film is based, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, and his book called "The 16th Round", and the other was written by two men, Sam Chaiton and Terry Swinton, whose novel is entitled "Lazarus and the Hurricane". In fact, the film's original title was LAZARUS AND THE HURRICANE. To prepare for his role as boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Denzel Washington apparently worked out for a year with trainer Terry Claybon and lost a total of 44 pounds.

    Review Date: January 19, 2000
    Director: Norman Jewison
    Writers: Armyan Bernstein and Dan Gordon
    Producers: Armyan Bernstein, Norman Jewison and John Ketcham
    Actors: Denzel Washington as Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
    Vicellous Reon Shannon as Lesra Martin
    Genre: Drama
    Year of Release: 2000
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    (c) 2000 Berge Garabedian

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