Fences (2016)

Director: Denzel Washington

Starring: Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Jovan Adepo

A working-class African-American father tries to raise his family in the 1950s, while coming to terms with the events of his life.

When movies start talking about “niggers”, and black people talking about “white people” in a racist way, I’m inclined to hit the STOP button before the story even unfolds. I almost did that with ‘Fences’, but decided to sit it through.

This film suffered from verbal diarrhea. Man, there was a lot of dialogue! I mean, a lot! All the characters were also fighting all the time, and preaching, with racist remarks, that made the film an unpleasant watch, initially. However, thankfully the film vastly improved once it reached the halfway mark, after a big reveal.

Denzel Washington stars as Troy. This character was so disgustingly horrible that I viewed him as an antagonist. I’m not sure if he was meant to be the protagonist, but by golly this man was the most unlikable character I’ve seen in a film in a while. This character always tried to enforce his will. “This is my house. You’re living under my roof”… blah-blah-blah. On the contrary, I had a lot of respect for Rose (Viola Davis), whom I viewed as the strongest character. Viola Davis delivered a powerful performance. Denzel not so much. He was just constantly talking in a dreary, annoying tone. I hated his character!

My favorite character – apart from Rose – was Gabriel, or Uncle Gabe as he was affectionately called. I really felt for this character. Jovan Adepo was also good as Troy’s son, Cory, with good character development. Although ‘Fences’ is not my kind of movie, I don’t regret watching it. Surprisingly, the film also had a touching ending.

‘Fences’ received 177 award nominations, winning 57, including an Oscar for Best Actress (Viola Davis, off course!). At the box office, the film earned $64.4 million on a $24 million budget.

Would I watch it again? No.