I remember the first time I sat down to read “Fences,” August Wilson’s engrossing tale about a man at a point in his life where he has to decide what comes next, and thinking theater doesn’t get better than this. The thing about Wilson is that he always gives his characters the best dynamics of any playwright of his time. He gives us just enough information to help guide us along, but then ropes us in with dialogue that is so compelling, it knocks you on your feet. Denzel Washington and Viola Davis reprise their roles which earned them Tony’s in the Broadway revival, and after seeing the two make the leap from stage to big screen, it’s almost inevitable they both might just win Oscars too.
“Fences” is, by far, a career crowning moment for Washington, it’s the best possible version that Wilson himself could have wished for, and Washington brings his own strength to the director's chair. It’s one thing to take the idea and run with it, but a whole other to capture the emotional strength and dramatic beats needed to conjure our feelings. It also helps that Washington and Davis know these parts backwards and forward, making it look easy to slide into roles that require so much depth. For me, it was like I was reading the play all over again, as the rush of the words all stayed intact, and the story continued to unfold how it normally would. There is no Hollywood interference for dramatized effect, “Fences” is authentic, and true to it’s source material.
One of the most successful stories of it’s time, and part of Wilson’s “Pittsburgh Cycle” this is a story that is filled with realism. Set in the 1950s, the title of “Fences” doesn’t just allude to how Troy Maxson (Washington) forever procrastinates building one in the backyard, but to the career and life obstacles he has never managed to overcome and how he can’t shake his demons. Which often leaves Troy to sermonize his life, in rip-roaring monologues that sometimes forces him to bitterly draw lines in the sand to those who are closest to him. Those include his wife Rose (Davis), who loves him very much, despite dealing with his drunken riffs every Friday after he gets paid; teenage son Cory (Jason Adepo), whose school football team believes he has insurmountable talent that could help him go to college; Lyons (Russell Hornsby), Troy’s 34 year old son from a previous marriage, a jazz musician that seems to only come by when he needs some extra cash; and younger brother Gabriel (Mykelti Williamson), whose wartime injury has left him with childlike attributes.
The only real friend that Troy has is his old pal Bono (Stephen Henderson) and much of the early scenes are dominated by the pair’s high energy come the end of the work week when Troy takes his hard earned money, purchases a fifth of vodka, and sips it down as he recounts old stories of how he came face to face with death, and the eventual marriage to his wife Rose. Rose, hearing all these stories before, just rolls her eyes.
But it’s an important staple in life for Troy that he be regarded as the boss of the family, with many of his long gestating speeches used to make a point about his meager living. His son asks him at one point “Why don’t you like me?” To which Troy goes on a tantalizing sermon professing how he doesn’t have to like him, but that he is his son, and owes him a responsibility. Corey sees this as spiteful and mean, but Troy is showing him what it’s really like in the real world. All of this is an allegory in itself, as Corey wants nothing more than to impress his father, but Troy doesn’t want him making the same mistakes he did.
In his third outing as a director (after “Antwown Fisher” in 2002 and “The Great Debators” in 2007) it’s obvious that Washington isn’t an artistic director, who uses glamour to help tells his story. In fact, he is rather honest, and here in “Fences” he helps adapt the stage in the best way he can. Every so-often he will cut to a friendly baseball game in the street, or a few guys sitting around in a bar watching TV. These are simply splice and cuts, yet It allows Washington not to be limited by the confines of a normal stage production, it lets the characters get out of the house once in awhile.
Great in these roles onstage, Washington and Davis earn such praise again here, he with his ability to balance comedic riffs, with serious emotional gravitas, and her with the ability to evoke a woman who has learned to live with this man, and even allowing herself to be cut down many times before. Davis explodes on screen as this character, and the coveted speech “I’m standing here with you” is one that will draw tears from those unsuspecting.
But the strongest thing about “Fences” is that it showcases screen acting at it’s finest. Not so often are audiences given the ability to see two powerhouse actors of their time bring to life such a coveted masterpiece. Let alone a screenplay by one of the most prolific and episodic playwrights of all time. Which, thanks in part to his style, and homegrown roots, the film should have no problem appealing to a wide variety of age groups, a barrier that Wilson’s plays often breakdown. A
