Touches You

Such a frustrating disappointment

Good concept, poorly executed.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Recap: Around the time of the second world war, a black sergeant is murdered on an American Military base in the South. On the base, the privates are mostly black and the officers white, and the atmosphere is racially charged both off and on the base. From Washington comes captain Davenport, a military lawyer graduated from Harvard, to solve the murder. But he is met with mistrust, mostly because he himself is black, something that is still unthinkable among the base personnel. Having but a few days to solve the case Davenport finds that the sergeant was very unpopular and the murderer might be anyone from the officers that saw him with contempt to the privates that he oppressed.Comments: A good murder story that toys with the idea of presumption. There are many presumptions thrown about in this film, and it is only Davenport that can sort them out, or in many cases, wish to sort them out. It is set in a racially charged atmosphere perhaps best exemplified when Davenport arrives at the base and white trainer asks a black private that is staring "Have you never seen a black officer before?" and the private responds bluntly "No sir… have you?".It is set in the mid forties, but the ideas and presumptions it shows sadly still actual. But it tries to do two things at once, one being the murder story and one showing racial prejudice. It does it good, but there are better murder stories out there, and there are better movies about racism too.There are many good actors, Howard Rollins Jr. as Davenport among them,(unfortunately many that has died before their time since), but maybe most notable now is an early role for Denzel Washington.6/10

A Soldier's Story (1984)Key here is the story, an attempt to give some exposure to problems of blacks in the military during WWII. That's commendable, and the movie makes it beautiful and on some level an accurate period piece. But there are too many obvious moments here, too many times where it seems that familiar (even for 1984) stereotypes are upended, or where justice is somehow being served to history. This gets in the way of some really fine performances, and in a way waters down the really important points, about the conflict of assimilation and equality for blacks in a military not ready for it, and in a culture (the deep South) completely resistant to it.A young Denzel Washington, and a seasoned Norma Jewison directing, at least make this movie worth watching, but neither rises to their best stuff. The set designer (and to some extent cinematographer) deserve credit for making a convincing setting for it all. And maybe most engaging, though also seemingly patched in for entertainment purposes, is Patti LaBelle as a searing blues performer, great to see.

In 1981 Howard Rollins' role as Coalhouse Walker, Jr. in the Depression Era drama, "Ragtime", probably paved the way for him to become a first rate black actor in Hollywood. However, it was his role as Capt. Davenport in 1984's "A Soldier's Story" that solidified that thought. Anyone who has seen 1967's "In the Heat of the Night", starring the one and only Sidney Potier, would certainly draw comparisons to the two performances. Rollins' performance is simply marvelous. As a World War II army officer, he is sent by his superiors to a base in a racially divided southern town to investigate the murder of a platoon sergeant under mysterious circumstances. Adolph Caesar's performance as Sgt. Waters(the victim in question), a veteran soldier(who happens to be black)who wreaks with animosity towards his own race is riveting. Although slightly built, his domineering persona, bigoted conviction, and ornery demeanor are imposing to say the least. Denzel Washington,(in one of his early roles) as Pfc. Peterson, is his usual conspicuous self. Wings Hauser, as Lt. Byrd,is perfect as a racist army officer who is a prime suspect in the case. Although most people who haven't seen "A Soldiers Story" will undoubtedly be shocked by its conclusion, it is the perfect ending to a movie that depicts how people are not only preyed upon by other races but also by corrupted descendants of its own lineage. As for Howard Rollins becoming the next Sidney Potier, his downfall and untimely death are well documented. However, the torch was obviously passed on to another actor featured in the film, Mr. Denzel Washington, who, like Sir Sidney Potier, is now considered one of the greatest actors of all time, black or otherwise.

Colonel Nivens: "The worst thing you can do, in this part of the country, is pay too much attention to the death of a Negro under mysterious circumstances." If "A Soldier's Story" had kept itself to this level, it probably would have done better at the box office, been considered more "daring" and "controversial" and been talked about as "a landmark film". It also probably would have been trendy, clichéd, one dimensional, and, of course, at least partially false. If you don't see something in its entirety, it's very easy to misunderstand it. For centuries people looked at the land around them and concluded the world was flat. A clear example of how the vast majority "sees" something that is irrefutable, yet in reality it is a lowest common denominator myth based in ignorance. "A Soldier's Story" is a much better film than to rely on such one or even two dimensional near-sightedness. The story and characters are motivated by life-like emotions and thoughts, so it is honest, meaningful and, not surprisingly, overlooked as one of the finest films to cover the subject of racism.It would be very convenient, and the solution for racism would be very easy, if all the blame for it could be attributed to a specific group of people from a specific area of a country; in this case the opening quote above refers to the whites who lived in and mostly controlled the southern United States during the 1940s. If the white people in the south were the entire cause of racism for black Americans then jailing, executing or somehow making them stop their terrible practices would be the simple solution for the blacks to live "happily ever after". But real adults know "happily ever after" only exists as a sweet, neat and tidy way to finish children's stories. Sometimes, however, even real adults can forget that the causes and therefore the solution to racism is not as simple, neat and convenient as we like to think and tell each other during our semi-thoughtful moods. For a start, like so many other undesirable things in societies and life, racism is so pervasive and entrenched that it becomes invisible even though it is constantly in our field of vision. A good example is when one of the black soldiers said "Sir, they lynched Jefferson the week I got here and two weeks after that-" and he doesn't finish the statement as he is interrupted by his C.O. The subject of his sentence, a previous racial murder, is dismissed as irrelevant to the current murder of that day. It is used as a "throw away line", something the characters and most of the audience quickly dismiss, for a variety of reasons, but mostly because underlying its dismissal is "Yeah, they lynched blacks back then with a regular frequency and your point is...?" Just as tragically, the attitude with which the character delivering the line is somewhat dismissive, or more correctly, defeatist, as in "Yeah, and what can we do about it? We're the ones being lynched and we ain't got the power. Just another one of us murdered." All of this is conveyed effectively by its brevity and casualness, just as it, sadly, is in real life. Not even a sub-plot, just a minor bit of story and character foundation, a throw-away line. That's the nature of something that is pervasive and entrenched, the majority believing the half truths or outright lies used to justify the actions more than the actions themselves; and the majority must be complicit in pervasive, institutional racism or it would not exist. Another thing real adults know is that black and white, in the human world, are concepts, ideas, there are no men who are all black, just as there are no men that are all white. Most men (and women) are gray, varying shades of black and white, just as probably no men are all good or all evil. And in and among these shades of gray is self-loathing and all types of racism, including racism with members of your own race. I think Groucho Marx was speaking for the common man when he said "I would not want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member." There is a great deal of detail in the many trees within this film but it is easy to miss much of it, partially because you're involved with the story (forest) and also because the subject is painful, pervasive and ignored as much as possible, even in the relatively safe confines of a movie. A really excellent film, like any form of art, will make you be more aware of reality, something we constantly obscure with our personal and social delusions. Another reason the depth of this movie can be missed is the presentation of the story. It is presented like a Hollywood film, in a formulaic-style package, which betrays the content. The presentation is a little slick but the subject, story and details are not, which is written by Charles Fuller, who also did the original play for which he won a deserved Pulitzer Prize. Not to disparage Norman Jewison at all, a man who has directed a number of great masterpieces, including the masterfully presented "In the Heat of the Night", which did not share quite the same intricate details of racism as this offering does. Perhaps this is just an example of how as wonderful as the movie medium can occasionally be it may lack in intellectual presentation when compared to the play or novel. Regardless, for what it offers, including outstanding performances all around, including the late but greats Adolph Caesar, Larry Riley, and, of course, Howard E. Rollins Jr., it doesn't get much better than "A Soldier's Story", a movie I recommend for multiple viewings to afford yourself the opportunity to see the pervasive racism within your world and self a little more clearly.