Fences

This week I saw the movie Fences, and while the plot was heartfelt and intense, the movie was dark, sad, and rather disheartening.

Set in the 1950’s, Fences follows Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington), a colored garbage collector whose former dream of playing baseball in the big leagues eats away at him, and affects every aspect of his life, including his relationships with his wife (Viola Davis) and his son (Russell Hornsby).

Sure, one cannot ignore that the acting in the movie is phenomenal. So if you’re someone who appreciates acting over plot and overall vibe in a movie, by all means, ignore my first paragraph.

Davis and Washington previously won Tony awards for the play version of Fences in 2010, and this year Davis won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film.

I also must note that obviously the movie is a great, intense work of art, as it was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award and grossed 56 million dollars in the box office. But nevertheless, the movie was not for me.

The fact that Maxson missed his dream by only a matter of years, as soon after he retired his baseball career in the “Negro Leagues”, major league baseball teams began accepting players of color, is frustrating as an audience member.

This, and Maxson persistence in bringing his family’s overall moral down to the gutters with him, makes the movie a tough one to sit through without wanting to yell at the screen or do something else that is socially unacceptable in a movie theater.

Overall, I can’t say that Fences is the worst movie I have ever seen, but I would recommend a different, more lighthearted movie.