Fences (2016)

Review

139min

Genre:      Drama

Director:   Denzel Washington

Cast:        Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Jovan Adepo …and more

Writer:     August Wilson

-Synopsis-
Denzel Washington directs an adaptation of the award-winning August Wilson play in which he once starred, recounting the story of a former Baseball star turned city garbage collector, battling his inner demons and struggling to come to terms with the hand that life has dealt him while keeping his family together in this powerful 1950s American character drama.

For his one and only screenplay, completed in 2005 just before his death, American playwright August Wilson adapted his own ‘magnus opus’ and yet another masterful chronicle of the evolving African American experience in the USA ‘Fences’. Now over ten years later and after starring in the award-winning Broadway revival of the play, Washington directs and reunites with Viola Davis to reprise their husband and wife roles for the screen in this frank and intimate family drama, set in a specific culture but with universal themes.

Unfolding in urban Pittsburgh in the late 1950s and onwards, Washington stars as ‘Troy’; a middle-aged black man whose tough life experiences have made him harsh and bitter about the social injustices which he sees as holding him back from his potential, as a star athlete beyond the ‘negro leagues’ of American sport. Now he’s stuck with struggling to provide for his family while staying true to his devoted wife ‘Rose’ (Viola Davis), herself trying to keep an increasingly fractured family together, while a changing father/son relationship and ‘Troy’s’ indiscretions threaten to tear the family apart.

From the film’s framing, the dialogue and the character monologues, it’s clear to see that ‘Fences’ is based on a stageplay, indeed it’s probably closer to a cinematic transcription than it is an adaptation, which leaves a drama that’s more theatrical and less naturalistic than you might expect from this kind of drama. But thanks to Wilson’s ability to craft a melodrama that’s somehow unmelodramatic but instead frank, unflinchingly honest and unsanitised by modern social norms, not to mention the powerful dialogue brought to life by its lead master-actors, ‘Fences’ manages to be both a compelling dramatisation of the African-American experience in mid-20th century USA, and a family drama with universal appeal that easily crosses racial and cultural lines of division, as was clearly intended by the author.

Just like the original stageplay, ‘Fences’ is essentially structured as a series of frank discussions over the course of several years between the family, and occasionally their closest friend, all set in and around the hard-earned and humble family home in Pittsburgh. But the story is really centred around ‘Troy’ and the effect of his imposing character on those around him, a well-meaning but deeply flawed and tragic working-class anti-hero, whose pride and ego conspire with a sense of righteous indignation about the world around him to define his outlook on life, and blind him to the effect it has on his wife and family.

Indeed you could easily draw parallels between ‘Troy’ and many a great man throughout history and mythology if you peer through the robes of power at the flawed men beneath them, and you could draw parallels between the women behind those men and ‘Rose’, struggling to keep their union and own particular worlds together while forsaking their own identities, hopes and dreams for the reality of their situations and the time in which they live.

This compact little family drama may be relatively still and lacking in extravagance, but it packs a powerful emotional punch and touches on any number of profound human themes; from loss, heartache and heartbreak, through compromise to joy, reflection and introspection, all wrapped in some existential contemplation and delivered through dialogue which in Wilson’s own words “echoes the poetry and the language of black America”, so you can expect plenty of colourful language and the unapologetic but necessary free use of the ‘n-word’.

The film’s central themes however revolve around the characters’ need for purpose in life, and to somehow make an impact in the grander scheme of things. Despite the very specific cultural and racial perspective of the people involved, ‘Fences’ is ultimately an honest family drama with universal resonance, about two humble people who took all that life threw at them, the blessings and the beatings, and tried to make something out of it… for better or worse. The film’s other core message of course relates to its title, a metaphor for people who build barriers to protect themselves from the outside or to prevent loosing what’s within them, but which ultimately fail to do either. A timely concept to remind those who want to build their own fences (or walls) in society that they rarely have the desired effect… and come with plenty of unintended consequences.

Despite the dialogue and universal appeal of the story, the sheer structure and lack of incident involved with Washington’s adaptation, which is essentially a filmed version of the play, may be an issue for some audiences. In the end ‘Fences’ is a triumph thanks to the performance of its small but highly capable cast and the film’s two leads, with Washington and Davis serving up a stage & screen acting masterclass which truly brings Wilson’s work to life, reaching the mass multi-coloured audience we’re sure the playwright would have been proud of.

The Bottom Line…

In a theatre adaptation so faithful it virtually qualifies as a transcription, Denzel Washington brings August Wilson’s unique social-artistic voice to the masses in this powerful little family drama. Thanks largely to the efforts of its two lead master-actors Washington and Viola Davis, ‘Fences’ captures a moment in time of American history from the distinct perspective of African-Americans, yet manages to be universal in theme and resonant for anyone who’s ever loved, lost and struggled with what life throws at you.

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