Here comes the story of the Hurricane, the man the authorities came to blame, for somethin’ that he never done. Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been the champion of the world ~ by Bob Dylan
Singer Bob Dylan played this tribute, which tells the story of a man’s endurance & struggle for justice, this song was his way of protesting & seeking justice for a man who was wronged time & again. The movie ’’The Hurricane’’ tells the story of this man & his sufferings to find peace, justice & love in the face of hateful abuses.
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Sometimes we don’t pick the books we read. They pick us!
One of the film characters said the above in reference to books but while watching the movie it struck me that this also rang true for the protagonist of the film Rubin ’Hurricane’ Carter; he never picked up trouble & yet trouble picked him each time!
Carter’s story in this film begins in jail where he is serving time for triple murders. In a series of flashbacks, we meet 11-year-old Carter who lands up in jail for knifing a child molester; he is sentenced to prison till he is 21!! From this incident Carter also meets a enemy who would probably last a lifetime & change Carters life for the worse; this man is a police sergeant named Vincent Della Pesca, a staunch racist who detests Carter from first sight & will now hound him for rest of his life. Carter spends his adolescence in a juvenile home & prison, but instead of breaking down under these vicious events, he vows to turn his life around. He joins the army, gets an education & gradually becomes a professional boxer. This sport also helps him vent out his bitterness & his aggressions.
But trouble comes looking for Carter, once more, when one night three whites are gunned down by two black men. Della Pesca frames Carter by persuading the two key witnesses [who are petty thieves] to lie about seeing him at the crime scene at the time of the killings. Pesca calls Carter ’’a lifetime criminal, ’’ even though he only committed one ’’crime, ’’ in self-defense when he was just 11. Della Pesca manipulates the situation to make it look like Carter was one of the shooters, the other being his buddy John Artis. Although both had rock-solid alibis, there was no evidence linking them to the murders; no weapon had been found; the bar had not been dusted for fingerprints & most importantly there was no motive. Even the fact that Carter was at his peak, poised to become the champion of the world did little to help him in those racial times. Carter & Artis are found guilty by an all-white jury & given three life terms, one for each of their victims.
I’m not in jail for committing murder. I’m in jail partly because I’m a black man in America, where the powers that be will only allow a black man to be an entertainer or a criminal ~ Rubin Carter
In the prison Carter keeps away from the other inmates, he cuts himself off from his wife & children; to protect them from heartbreak & in his heart he builds up hatred for all whites. He spends his time studying law, specifically to serve his own case but as his appeals are rejected Carter gives up studying & turns to spiritual reading. He also writes his story ’’The Sixteenth Round: From Number 1 Contender to #45472’’, which attracts the attention of many celebrities like singer Bob Dylan, Boxer Mohammed Ali who believe in his innocence & take part in protest rallies but that too is not effective as Carter’s appeal is rejected once again.
Till the day that a 15-year-old black kid Lesra Martin sets out to buy his first book. The book he selects is Carter’s ’’Sixteenth Round’’, Lesra, who has been adopted by three social activists for educating him, is so touched by Carter’s story that he shares it with his adopted family, who are also convinced of Carter’s innocence. When Lesra writes to Carter & receives a response from him, there is a twist in Carter’s future. Inspite of Della Pesca’s threats & Carter’s initial reluctance to trust the ’’white people’’, Lesra & his guardians, Sam, Terry & Lisa, decide to do all they can to help the boxer & with their persistent efforts they uncover new evidence which helps in releasing a man who had spent over half his life unfairly behind bars.
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The Film:
Based on a true story about Rubin ’Hurricane’ Carter, the screenplay is an adaptation of two books; an autobiography by Carter & another novel about his relationship with Lesra & his 3 friends who help to free Carter out of prison. Director Norman Jewison brings to us this film about a boxer, which surprisingly doesn’t have much of fight sequences that could overshadow the actual story. With his fast paced direction, sensitive handling of the characters & with a one-man story Jewison has been able to show the injustice & racism that the black community had endured during the early sixties. His film is about the triumph of the human spirit over adversity, a powerful & moving story of human endurance & determination. Jewison succeeds in pulling our heart strings with this extraordinarily engrossing & inspiring film.
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