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The Hurricane (1999)
Director: Norman Jewison
Entertainment grade: B
History grade: D–
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Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, who died this week, was a boxer in the United States. He was convicted of a 1966 triple homicide in two trials and became a cause celebre, inspiring Bob Dylan's song Hurricane. The convictions were set aside by a federal court in 1985, on the grounds that they had been "predicated upon an appeal to racism rather than reason".
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Fictionalisation
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+High points … the film's most gripping scenes show Carter's time in prison. Allstar/UNIVERSAL PICTURES/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar
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A title card before the film admits that some characters have been composited or invented, and some incidents fictionalised. That's fair enough, of course – though viewers would do well to keep the disclaimer at the front of their minds throughout. The film's narrative skips back and forth, from Carter (Denzel Washington) protesting in prison in 1973, back to a boxing match in the 1960s (filmed in black and white, with a nod to Raging Bull), forward to the night of the triple homicide at the Lafayette Bar & Grill in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1966.
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Record
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Having established the crime, the film delves into Carter's youth. It is true that he ran away from a juvenile detention centre and joined the army, but in The Hurricane he appears to emerge from it with full honours. In real life, he underwent four court martials for various behavioural and discipline offences and was eventually discharged as "unfit for military service". He was afterwards convicted of three muggings. Perhaps the film-makers felt that this background made Carter an unsympathetic character – but, in real life, the fact that Carter didn't get on with army authority and had a criminal record was part of his story. Nothing in his background made it any more acceptable that he was wrongfully convicted of three murders.
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Sport
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As an alternative narrative, the film chooses to establish Carter's alienation as a black man through a middleweight title fight in 1964. On screen, Carter clearly wins over defender Joey Giardello – but the white judges award the title to the white Giardello anyway. It's one of those incidents that the flimsy opening disclaimer is presumably supposed to cover. In real life, Carter boxed well for the first five rounds, but Giardello took control as the match went on and was awarded a unanimous victory by the judges. Carter agreed that Giardello deserved his victory. So upset was Giardello by this inaccurate portrayal that he launched a lawsuit against the makers of the film. Reportedly, they settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
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Romance
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+Loyal in love … Debbi Morgan as Carter's wife, Mae Thelma. Allstar/UNIVERSAL PICTURES/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar
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The most gripping parts of The Hurricane show Carter's time in prison. He decides he must give up wanting things, in order that his jailers cannot take anything away from him. At the height of his self-denial, his loyal, adoring wife Mae Thelma visits him. "I want you to divorce me," he says. "I'm dead. Just bury me. Please." It's a beautifully acted and affecting scene – but the truth was not quite so noble. Thelma divorced Carter on the grounds of his repeated infidelities with supporters.
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Justice
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+A new chapter … Vicellous Reon Shannon (right) plays Lesra Martin, who is enchanted by Carter's autobiography Allstar/UNIVERSAL PICTURES/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar
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In Toronto in the 1980s, young Lesra Martin (Vicellous Reon Shannon) buys Carter's autobiography in a second-hand book sale and is enchanted. Martin, a black boy from Brooklyn, lives in a commune of Canadians who seem to be harmless, though even the film's best efforts can't prevent them from seeming a bit weird. The commune is run by three well-meaning white liberals, who set out to free Carter. The screenplay can't decide whether they're heroes or idiots, and makes a right old mess of the facts of the case while it tries to work that out. Fortunately, Washington's performance is so powerful, nuanced and intensely compelling that it carries the film to the finish line, making it watchable despite the growing heaps of inaccuracies. He lost the Oscar in 2000 to Kevin Spacey for American Beauty, but deservedly won a Golden Globe.
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Verdict
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The Hurricane goes 15 rounds with history and beats it to a pulp.
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