This is a work of deep resentment. The male lead played by Denzel Washington only does one thing in the film, and that is endless complaints.
Troy was a very talented baseball player. For various reasons, he failed to achieve a lot of glory. In the end, he had to work as a sanitation worker in Pittsburgh, spending time with the smelly garbage.
At that time, the apartheid policy of Major League Baseball had not been completely abolished, and there were few opportunities for blacks to appear on the stage. This allowed Troy, who was frustrated and angry in his life, to find a cathartic goal, and he naturally took the seat and labeled himself as racist. The victim claimed that racism had ruined his life.
This is not the case.
The failure of his father caused Troy to break into society at the age of 14. In order to survive, he was reduced to a thief. In a robbery, Troy was arrested and imprisoned for 15 years. When he was released from prison, he was already a middle-aged man and no longer Suitable for a professional baseball career...
Obviously, the bad family environment and his lack of restraint are the real reasons for Troy's first half of his life. Racism did not play a significant role in his life.
For a person with a correct outlook on life, facing such a situation, he can only do two things, that is, to recognize the real cause of misfortune, and to actively face the future, but this requires wisdom and courage.
What Troy lacks is courage. After all, holding the identity of the victim, he blames everything on his unchangeable skin color. It is much simpler and more comfortable, and he is able to excuse himself for his mistakes and cowardice. As Troy’s wife said, “When you encounter something you don’t understand, you call it the devil.” Troy is unwilling to understand his life. He prefers to be something that can lead all topics to racism, and complains constantly. The grieving woman.
The name of the film "Fence" is very wonderful. It not only refers to the fence outside Troy’s house, but also a metaphor for the estrangement between American ethnic groups in the 1950s and 1960s. The Troy incident is a very typical example. The incident itself has nothing to do with race, but because of the participation of different races, Being put on the label of racism reflects the tension and sensitivity of racial relations in the general environment at that time.
At the same time, the film criticizes this victim sentiment of blacks more rarely: not all the misfortunes of blacks are caused by racism.
As Denzel Washington said: “Some barriers keep people out, and some barriers keep people inside.” If racial discrimination is white people's exclusion of black people, then black people blame white thinking for everything. , Is to besiege oneself in a cage far away from the mainstream society.
This is the case for Troy. He refuses to acknowledge the progress of the times. Although the white boss has promoted him in an unprecedented way, he prevents his son from realizing his dream of playing basketball. Although the school team has decided to recruit his son, he will take his grievances. Sprinkle to family and friends, forcing them to admit their views-blacks must be a bad life, so that they can stand with themselves and stick to this racial barrier.
To some extent, this barrier is Troy's fig leaf, used to cover up the fact that he is afraid to face the past, let alone face the future. He said to his son, “Those white people won’t let you play. You must be ten times better than them if you want to gain a position among them.” In fact, it is himself who really fears his son’s success, because his son His success will break down the barriers he has held for decades and tear his fig leaf.
The film is adapted from the play of the same name by the famous playwright August Wilson. Wilson himself is a black man, which gives the whole story a profound introspective meaning: to get rid of racism, one cannot rely on white people to change. The fate of the blacks needs the improvement of the blacks themselves.
At the end of the story, Troy had an extramarital affair and had an illegitimate child. He personally ruined the marriage he had maintained for more than ten years. This time, racism could no longer be carried away, and Troy's fig leaf was ruthlessly torn away by Wilson. In the face of his wife's tearful questioning, he still used strong words and tried to rationalize his betrayal. In fact, he just paralyzed himself with depravity and selfishly made the whole family pay for his frustration.
The racial barriers are gradually disintegrating due to the progress of the times, but Troy used his own paranoia to create barriers between himself and his friends and family, ruining himself, and hurting his family. In the end, his son failed. To realize his dream, his wife broke with him.
In the end, Troy ended his life hastily with a sudden death. He and his barriers became history, and Troy's family looked peacefully at the shining sun behind the clouds.
For many years, some people have wanted to make "The Fence" into a movie, but Wilson insisted on letting black people be the director, which caused the film to be difficult to give birth for a long time. I did not understand this stubbornness before, but after watching the film, I can fully understand if Shooting this story by people from other ethnic groups will become like outsiders spurring black people. Only when black people are directing the story, can the introspective significance of the story be brought into full play.
Looking at the story in an enlarged scale, the self-reflection of the film is actually applicable to any group. When we identify ourselves as a group identity, are we also using this identity to build up a barrier, create barriers, and pass on ourselves? Unhappy? For example, between the sexes, and then between the regions.
August Wilson
Compared with the profound introspective consciousness of "The Fence", last year's "The Birth of a Nation", which was also a black theme, seemed very clumsy. The noble and perfect blacks used this to vent their resentment towards the whites. In the end, the black director's own indiscretions severely slapped himself and made the film a joke.
"The Birth of a Nation" is the video version of Troy, which is inferior.
"The Birth of a Country"
Due to the adaptation of the stage play, the entire film has very obvious traces of the stage play. The scenes are severely compressed, and are basically anchored in the front door and backyard of the Troy house. Then the actors enter and exit the stage continuously, and a series of lines replace the original. The plot that should be described by images is rather dull. This is a fatal injury to the film, and it should have been better adapted.
Viola Davis
Since last year’s Oscar’s “Taibai” was criticized, this year’s black-seen films shined brightly. "Fences" won the best supporting actress. But to be honest, Viola Davis’s performance is wonderful, but the film itself The meaning of is more worthy of attention.
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