Review: Fences

Sitting on the director’s chair for the third time, Denzel Washington’s “Fences” does not disappoint. A story about frustrated ambitions, racial prejudice, and the American broken dream is told in a two-hour plot composed of dense and fast-paced dialogues.

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The tales of a 1950s working-class black household in Pittsburgh are first introduced through Troy Maxson, played by Denzel himself. Once a promising star in baseball, Troy is initially presented as an amicable character who blames his condition as rubbish collector on the colour of his skin. But he soon proves to be quite paradoxical: a man whose frustrated dreams prevent him from letting his youngest son, Cory, pursue a career in sports; a man who too often likes to trespass marriage’s fence to get out of “the same place he’s been standing in for the last 18 years”; a man whose family bonds are based on responsibility rather than love.

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Having performed over 114 times in the Broadway revival of the 1984 play, Washington makes us forget he is an actor, and renders Troy a real person with his authentic take on the story. From the light-hearted drunken chats with his friend Bono, to the violent arguments with Cory, the audience is faced with the inner-decision to either sympathise or despise him, but find it impossible to make a definite judgement.

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After working together for “Antwone Fisher”, Washington and Viola Davis meet again, this time as a married couple.  Davis, who plays Troy’s wife of 18 years, is the one who commands the story after the mid-play revelation that punches the audience as hard as it does the main characters.

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Whether it is the endearing reactions to her husband’s jokes, or the angry nose-running tears provoked by the mid-script plot twist, she exploits every available moment to display the rawest of emotions. Having previously played dominant female roles, “Fences” is her most intense and honest performance to date.

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The minimalistic set and almost absence of background music emphasise the characters’ dilemmas. Yet, the screenplay falls flat at times with too many hidden metaphors that are hard to demystify in one watch. The fence that Troy spends the entirety of the narrative struggling to build is one of them.

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Foremost, Washington did not corrupt the idea of turning a play into a movie. He made sure the intimacy of the stage wasn’t missed by the camera lens.