FILM OF THE WEEK
Fences Cert: 12; Now showing
August Wilson gets a writing credit, and Oscar nomination, for Denzel Washington’s third directorial outing. It is a posthumous credit, testimony to Washington’s devotion to doing justice to Wilson’s original play, Fences. Tony award-winning, both in its original run in the 1980s and during its revival in 2010, the play is considered an African-American Death of a Salesman.
Set in Pittsburgh in 1957, it deals brilliantly with the dynamics of marriage and fatherhood through the eyes of a man who feels hard done by and the people who have to live with him.
Washington’s performance as bin man Troy Maxson is flawless. Viola Davis, reprising her role from 2010 as his wife Rose is also magnificent. Troy is a charmer but as the story and his character unfold it’s clear that he is not always nice, his ego is massive and he is always the star of his show. Prejudice meant he didn’t get to play professional baseball and he isn’t entirely enthralled with the idea of his son doing better than he did.
As a subtle depiction of character and dynamic this is wonderful. Washington, who got the Tony for his role in the 2010 stage version, clearly wants to honour it and to bring it to a broader audience so his adherence to source material is admirable. But what works with a live actor onstage does not always, or often, translate entirely successfully to the screen. It is very wordy and most of the action happens either outside or inside the same home. It starts out engaging, albeit occasionally hard to understand, but at well over two hours it really starts to drag. This is clearly an impressive piece of work, but it borders on self-indulgence and its appeal is not that broad.