Review of The Human Stain (2003) by Corey N — 28 Jun 2007

Coleman Silk, a classics professor with a terrible secret that is about to shatter his life in a small New England town. When his affair with a young troubled janitor is uncovered, the secret Silk had harboured for over fifty years from his wife, his children and colleague, writer Nathan Zuckerman, fast explodes in a conflagration of devastating consequences.

It is Zuckerman who stumbles upon Silk's secret and sets out to reconstruct the unknown biography of this eminent, upright man, esteemed as an educator for nearly all his life, and to understand how this ingeniously contrived life came unravelled.....

Endlessly going backwards and forwards from flashback to the present, the movie can be very hard to follow, and the narration is somewhat below par. a very good idea, but poorly told, and in some instances, woefully mis-cast.

Hopkins is good as Silk, a man with a lot of secrets he has kept to himself, but what I cannot buy is the whole relationship with Kidman. she is a very unlikeable character and there is virtually any chemistry between the two, so why would Silk choose to tell such an ignorant individual??

Sinise and Harris are wasted in their roles and add nothing to the story. that said, the cinematography is to die for and really add dept to the movie.

But all in all, a very average film, trying to be controversial, but ends up dull and depressing.