The Hurricane - Movie Review

Triumph of Truth

The first time I saw the movie "The Hurricane" was about five years ago. Back then, I did not know that the movie was based on a true story. My husband knew how much I liked the actor Denzel Washington and two years ago as a Christmas gift I received a collection of movies with my favorite actor. I liked all of them but "The Hurricane "was the one that took all my attention. I saw this film a couple of times and after a while I started looking up to Rubin Carter's life. I have read a lot of articles, saw many interviews and spent all my free time doing research on Rubin Carter. His story inspired me to do research while I was at LaGuardia College and today I would like to share all my information with you.

"The Hurricane" is a biographical film from 1999 which was directed by Norman Jewison, and starred Denzel Washington. The script of this movie was adopted from two books: "Lazarus and the Hurricane" by Sam Chaiton and Terry Swinton and "The 16th Round" by Rubin Carter. Denzel Washington played the role of Rubin Carter whose dream was to win the middleweight boxing title. His dream was destroyed when he was arrested along with another man- John Artis, for the murder of three people in the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Peterson, New Jersey. Those two men were convicted for a triple murder and sentenced to three life prison terms. Rubin spent almost twenty years behind the bars where he wrote his autobiography, "The 16th Round" which was later published by Viking Press. Denzel and Rubin worked very closely in making the movie. The actor had to get to know Mr. Carter very well in order to play his role. Both of them worked very hard and spent a lot of time together. "Rubin Carter went through pots and pots of coffee and packs of cigarettes. I'd drink a little coffee" Denzel said. They became very close while making the film and today still remain as friends. I was amazed how well Denzel performed as Rubin Carter; he was focused the whole time, filled with anger and pride. For his powerful performance he earned an Academy Award nomination for best actor.

The film was criticized by many people for misrepresenting the facts of Rubin's life and the actual case. Even though, Jack Valenti, the head of the Motion Picture Association of America came out in support of an Oscar for Denzel Washington, he said that the movie "cast a dark shadow over the truth and does harm to the good people who worked hard to send Rubin Carter to prison". Many people's good name was destroyed, for example, detective DeSimone. "The disgraceful military career of Carter is made to look honorable and the war wound of a true hero is made to look dishonorable" Paul Mulshine said. The filmmakers changed his name from Vincent DeSimone to Vincent Della Pesca. In a real life he had nothing to do with Carter's