Written in 1983 and first produced on Broadway in 1987, August Wilson’s “Fences” won a slew of Tony Awards, and the Pulitzer for drama. The 2010 revival won co-stars Denzel Washington and Viola Davis Tonys of their own. In just his third time behind the camera as director, two-time Oscar-winner Washington adapts what is widely regarded as one of the great American plays of the 20th century, and gives Wilson (who died in 2005) sole writing credit. Wilson wrote the screenplay prior to his death. Without accepting credit, Tony Kushner did the final rewrite.
Wilson was only 28-years-old when he brought his masterpiece to life, and the promise of youth is certainly reflected in the final product. For this is the story of 53-year-old Troy Maxson (Washington), a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, garbage collector embittered by the institutional racism that cost him his dreams, so embittered that the thought of his two sons achieving theirs is something he can’t abide.
The year is 1957 and on the surface Troy is a good man who makes a respectable living. Every Friday after work, he dutifully brings his pay envelope home to his wife Rose (Davis) and shares a celebratory pint of gin with his lifelong pal and fellow garbage thrower Bono (Stephen McKinley Henderson). The three of them inevitably end up in the narrow backyard of this small, brick home, where Troy poetically holds court on all kinds of subjects, primarily his life philosophy, which is informed only by his disappointments.
Troy must live with the terrible knowledge that while he had the talent to become a Major League Baseball player, because of his own mistakes and the bigotry of his youth, he has instead spent an entire life riding the back of a garbage truck where he counts the days to Friday. To Troy, the very real progress America has made on race (even in 1957) is a con, a lie, a cheat. At least that’s what he says.
Lyons (Russell Hornsby), a struggling musician, is Troy’s oldest child from a previous marriage. Thanks only to his old man, the two are estranged. Lyons oftentimes needs a ten-dollar loan, and Troy uses these requests to berate his grown son for not giving up on his dreams like he did. The humiliating lecture is disguised as one about reality and responsibility, but there is no question we are listening to Troy’s demons, the ones who can’t stand to see anyone still striving.
Because he lives at home, it is Cory who gets the worst of it. The 17-year-old has a shot at a football scholarship, a chance to go to college and even play professionally. The idea of his youngest son achieving the glory in professional sports that eluded him, brings out the very worst in Troy.
Although his wife and sons are not blinded to the racism of the day, they are not only willing to acknowledge the progress made, but rather than marinate in the bitterness of what was, they wish to embrace these changes and the promise they bring of a better future. Using his considerable powers as sole breadwinner, man of the house, a fierce intelligence and incredible way with words, there is nothing Troy Maxson won’t say or do to ensure everyone close to him is just as shattered and backwards as he is.
If racism will no longer destroy everyone’s dreams, Troy will.
Although it is receiving very good reviews, and deservedly so, complaints about the film’s staginess abound. This misses the point. To turn “Fences” into a movie-movie, the first thing that would have to go is Wilson’s unforgettable dialogue and the larger-than-life scenes surrounding Troy’s ongoing fear of death. You need a certain amount of the hyper-reality that comes with staginess to pull this off, and Washington threads the needle perfectly. Yes, you feel as though you are watching a top-shelf play. What is wrong with that? Moreover, although most of the action takes place in Troy’s home and backyard, “Fences” is still beautifully directed and photographed.
The acting is as big of a star here as Wilson’s writing. Even as Troy’s secrets are revealed, secrets that commit the kind of emotional violence that should be unforgivable, Washington’s extraordinary abilities give the story its most potent conflict; because no matter what he has done we can’t help but like and feel for the man.
Davis, who will probably win the Oscar, is even better. She has the best scene in all of the 139 minutes, and anyone who has seen the movie knows exactly what I’m talking about. Mykelti Williamson completely loses himself in the role of Gabriel, Troy’s mentally impaired brother.
Over nearly 35 years, “Fences” has, in its timelessness, proven to be a legitimate piece of art. Thankfully, it has been resurrected once again during a time when legions of Troys, armies of political mercenaries in academia, the national media, the White House, and the streets, are using fancy rhetoric and wild-eyed lies to keep black America from embracing the promise of an America that has achieved the kind of color-blindness unthinkable just 50 years ago.
I can’t think of a better message to close the disastrously divisive Obama-era with, an era that has hurt the black community more than any other.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
