Review of Fences (2016) by Muhammad L — 19 Feb 2017

Brilliant!!

I did not know this film was a based on a stage play, nor did I know anything about the film besides the title and the fact that it's a Denzel film, which was my reason for seeing it.

This film is a slow but powerful and intelligent drama focused purely on dialogue and not scenery, action, or anything else really.

It's set in the 50s where America were still living with many segregated laws (the Civil Rights Act was only passed in 1964). The scenes are restricted to the backyard and the kitchen, and sometimes the living room, porch, and bedroom.

The theme of the film is domestic tragedy but I found symbolism and irony in the overall storyline. Troy (Denzel) is an unhappy, bitter, and cynical garbage collector, father, and husband, for many reasons:

1. He had a tough childhood with his dad beating him and not being much of a father by providing or teaching him anything, so he had to leave home at 14 and fend for himself.

2. Inevitably this led to living a particular life in his early adult years which sent him to prison.

3. Whilst in prison he made a friend who taught him baseball. When Denzel gets out he struggled to make it as a professional player due to being black and being too old.

4. He works hard to provide for his family and yet his home life with his wife is unenthusiastic and boring.

5. He tries to raise his son to live a life different to his and away from sports as an African American but this does not happen.

6. He feels guilty after his brother moves out, for having a house paid for by his brothers disability money without his brother being there.

7. He struggles to take care of his brother.

8. He struggles to have a functional relationship with his other son who only comes around to borrow money.

All of this is what causes his drinking problem, his cheating on his wife where he ends up having a baby by another woman, and his explosive anger issues and impatience. It's also what makes him go a little crazy in the head where he believes the devil is ruining his life for his past sins.

What I felt from the film was that whilst he was trying to build a physical fence in his backyard to keep his family in and away from the devil, he ends up building an imaginary fence around himself and ends up keeping everyone out. He pushes away his wife, sons, best friend.

Only after his death, do his loved ones realise that even though Denzel was bitter, cynical, and angry at times, and in some ways a bad father and husband; he actually had good intentions.

Denzel's acting was intense, charismatic, with the typical Denzel swagger, strut, and distinctive screen presence. Denzel is full of jokes, anecdotes, stories, and lectures. He uses a lot of baseball metaphors to tell stories and give life lessons.

Due to the lack of scenery change, and the slow pace of the film which is purely dialogue; it's easy to understand why many would find this film boring. For some, it's kind of like being told to eat your vegetables when you prefer or are used to cake.

For me, I think the eloquence of the interaction between Denzel and Viola was poetic and riveting and convincing of an actual married couple with domestic issues.

This film is a classy piece of work!!

Viola Davis was powerful, fierce, and very convincing in her role as the wife of Denzel. Each of the supporting cast added something beneficial to the dense and intelligent dialogue.