|
|
|
The Oscar which Denzel Washington won at last year's Academy Awards was not just a recognition of his achievements as an actor, but also an open passport for him to do practically anything. The project he chose for his directorial debut is the estimable 'Antwone Fisher'. Its basic plot is a deadringer for Oscar-friendly 'Good Will Hunting': an angry young man is arrested for an unprovoked act of violence, and sent to a psychiatrist. Although at first uncooperative, he is soon encouraged to confront the demons from his past, to enjoy a successful relationship with a girlfriend for the first time, and to look forward to a more stable future; and the psychiatrist for his part begins facing up to his unresolved feelings about his wife. All in all, a heartwarming tale of a man's triumph over his own legacy. Yet this is no 'Good Will Hunting'. For a start, newcomer Derek Luke in the title role is a far better actor than the vastly overrated Matt Damon; and whereas Robin Williams' psychiatrist was all in-your-face cardboard sentimentality, Denzel Washington gives a far more believable (and less annoying) peformance as Navy psychiatrist Davenport, making him conceal all his vulnerabilities beneath his devoted professionalism. 'Good Will Hunting' was ultimately unconvincing because its protagonist depended on an unforgivable deus ex machina - an intuitive understanding of complex mathematical problems - to help him escape his working-class origins and loser friends. Antwone Fisher, on the other hand, has no such magic wand, and his background is far more traumatic. Born in a prison, tortured by his foster mother, sexually abused by her daughter, and eyewitness to his best friend's violent death, Fisher has only Washington's promptings and his own determination, to help him start talking about, and then to rewrite, his own story, Finally, where 'Good Will Hunting' was a piece of adolescent wish fulfilment written by two young men (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) whose hype outweighs their talent, 'Antwone Fisher' is an autobiographical testimony, scripted by the real Antwone Fisher, and this authenticity makes it, for all its similarity to 'Good Will Hunting', an altogether more serious work. It is almost as though the film's very existence forms a significant part of its author's recuperative therapy, with the viewer cast as his attentive psychiatrist. Unremittingly earnest, but an impressive debut for Washington, Luke, and Fisher himself. Anton Bitel, 12.05.03 |
 |
