• Adapted from August Wilson's Tony-winning play of the same title, "Fences" is the intense and upsetting portrayal of a fifty-something African-American father who works as a waste collector in Pittsburgh circa 1957. His name is Troy Maxson and he's played by Denzel Washington in a performance so full of speeches it will leave you speechless, not always positively.

    And to call him 'embittered' is an understatement, this is a man who've had the roughest time in his life: he left his house at the age of fourteen, he killed a man, went to jail and left a promising career in the Baseball Negro League because he couldn't make to the Major, believing it had to do with racism while it's strongly implied that age was the cause. In a nutshell, this is a man who had developed a sour taste of life that burst into vindictive rants and tirades over his family, mainly his two sons, a Jazz musician from a previous marriage and the son from his current marriage with Rose (Viola Davis), a kid under the radar of a football selector. While Troy is more patient and forgiving with Rose, on a larger scope, you can tell that she's had it with his tantrums and whenever he vents his frustrations over his sons, as a mother, she's like suffering by proxy.

    And this is not lying on the premise to say that the movie is all about anger, it's one angry monologue after another, even when you see Troy smiling, this is a smile that hurts one who loves him or at least shows him "overdue" respect. At least, the trailer doesn't lie about it, and all through the film, whether for giving ten dollars to his older son, or giving permission to the little one for playing football or buying a TV, Troy has a saying about everything. And he does have a point now and then, you've got to appreciate the standpoint of a man who's been wrestling with life, racism and death, but there's a fine line between teaching a lesson and bullying, and Troy crosses it so many times that there comes a moment you only pray for one bit of silence, a little breath. This is one hell of a depressingly heated movie, a "Poppy Dearest" that takes itself seriously.

    The screenplay, written by the late Wilson is a goldmine of one-liners and monologues and even surpasses "Network" on a quantitative level. The acting is top notch, you better believe it, besides Washington and Davis, Mykelti Williamson does a fine job as Gabriel, Troy's mentally impaired brother and Stephen Hendreson is the perfectly cool Yin to his buddy's tempestuous Yang. But the real problem is the directing. We're entrapped in that small house with a character so larger-than-life that even the audience must take a few steps back to let his feelings implode. I wouldn't call the film stagy, but it's too talkative for its own good, it never tries to reach the one quality where cinema can outshine theater: silence, close-ups, looks. Washington is one hell of an actor but not much of a director in the sense that he never translates a terrific script into movies' language.

    And there were many fields where he could play; how about having a glimpse on the two sons' lives, seeing them playing Jazz or football, or if Troy had to be the center of the film's universe, how about seeing his mistress? There's a whole monologue where he tells Rose why he cheated on her, because that forbidden relationship allowed an unsuspected part of him to express itself. It's a powerful speech but so less eloquent than seeing him actually having fun and being another person. Maybe the budget or the deadlines didn't make it possible but then the film should only be judged on the basis of what it's got to offer, which is dialogues and acting. The film was nominated for Best Actor, Actress, Adapted Screenplay and that was fine but Best Picture, I don't think so. This spot belonged to another film.

    Viola Davis will certainly win the Oscar although there's an obvious case of category fraud, but she was good and it wouldn't be undeserved. Now, it's on Washington that I will expand. It seems that he's the second front-runner along with Casey Affleck in "Manchester by the Sea". It's a two-man race but as deserved as the nomination was, Washington shouldn't win because this is a role he played so many times, the hardest part was over, he already inhabited his character and didn't even try to enrich him with new material. You can play a character a thousand times and keep him fresh and powerful, but Washington made me "feel the screenplay", it made feel there was someone who wrote these lines and thought they would provide terrific acting moments. Even the trailer lays that card, the film tries to venture in the realm of reality but there's something deeply unreal and theatrical in that man who has a powerful monologue about everything.

    On the other hand, Casey Affleck played a seemingly unlikable guy who didn't know exactly what to say at the right moments, being confused and embarrassed, a character who felt real because there was no sense of a screenplay driving his emotions, only reality. He fully embodied his character and took whatever came and at the moment it came, as if he really had to figure out what to say or how to act, or react, sure he was less eloquent than our friend Troy, but it felt real and it was diluted in a story where you could care for other people.

    "Fences" was a clothesline on which to hang Washington's emotional rants, your admiration is almost at the expense of your enjoyment. A little less could have meant a lot more.