Reviewed by Ramona Prioleau

Sometimes what goes on in the home should not stay there. Ill-deeds done behind closed doors and in darkened basements must be exposed. In doing so, the community is alerted and able to effect change.

With courage and help along the way, Antwone Quenton Fisher confronted his past; shared secrets of his foster home long buried; and demonstrated the indomitable spirit of the little boy within the man that triumphed against all odds. Finding Fish, published in 2001, details how Fisher overcame a childhood of abuse and neglect to live a life free of the festering emotional wounds that could have been his undoing. Concurrently, Fisher scripted a contemporary dramatization of his experiences that after 10 years has reached the screen.

Fisher, determined to tell his own tale, found a cinematic mentor in producer Todd Black (Donnie Brasco, I Know What You Did Last Summer), who gave the then Sony Pictures security guard and budding writer a desk in his office. There, Fisher began the arduous and cathartic task of committing his memories of a heart wrenching childhood to paper. In time, Fisher’s reworked script made its way to Denzel Washington who chose Fisher’s screenplay for his entree into feature filmmaking.

The feature film departs from Finding Fish in that the former is told in a contemporary milieu, shifting the years of abuse to the 80s and 90s rather than the 60s and 70s. Such dramatic license does not diminish the impact of the film; in fact, it heightens it. As a contemporary story, the truth of what bad people do to children is necessarily conveyed as a continuing specter of evil that communities must be vigilant to prevent.

The film, Antwone Fisher, is the feature film debut of Derek Luke, starring in the title role. Luke delivers a full throttle performance as the 25-year-old Antwone and impressively travels the emotional peaks and valleys of hope, despair, anger and joy that the role demands.

After his repeated violent outbursts exasperate his captain (James Brolin), Petty Officer Fisher is ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Thinking he can bully the good doctor (Washington in a trademark solid performance) into sending him to the brig, Antwone is annoyed to find otherwise. For one so used to iron-fisted punishment, Antwone finds in Davenport an authority figure with the patience, caring and determination to erode his rock-hard exterior. In time, Davenport’s weekly silent treatment convinces Antwone to talk, to recall, to relive and finally to forgive.

Through intermittent flashbacks that juxtapose Antwone’s spit-and-polish Navy life in San Diego against the dreariness of a Cleveland neighborhood where it rained too much for one little boy, Antwone’s childhood of receiving hurt rather than help is revealed. Davenport’s ministering hand guides Antwone along a difficult path with such genuine compassion that doctor and patient enter a realm of father and son that almost jeopardizes Antwone’s healing. Antwone’s journey is also hastened along by his evolving relationship with fellow Navy officer Cheryl Smolley (newcomer Joy Bryant) who overlooks Antwone’s romantic clumsiness and shows him how to love.

Washington, with the help of Robi Reed-Humes, rounds out the featured cast of ingenues with cinema and theater veterans who add enormous depth to the film, including Salli Richardson (playing Berta Davenport with sophistication and strength). Washington’s directing chops are most profound in the stellar supporting performances delivered by Novella Nelson (as the sinister Mrs. Tate) and Viola Davis (portraying Eva Mae Fisher in brilliant, emotionally-suppressed silence upon meeting her son).

More than a revelation of childhood pain, Antwone Fisher is distinguished by its outstanding ensemble performances as well as its prominent theme that with a vision of a better tomorrow and with the help of people of goodwill, the rain will go away; a child’s tears will subside; and in time, kings and queens will rise. Even with its overly syrupy sweet ending, Antwone Fisher is uplifting and a must see. For more on Antwone Fisher, click here. M

December 2002

Author: MOSAEC