Stars: Denzel Washington, John Hannah, Deborah Unger, Liev Schreiber, Rod Steiger, Vicellous Reon Shannon, Harris Yulin, Clancy Brown, Debbi Morgan, David Paymer

Director: Norman Jewison

Summary: The story of Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, a boxer with a promising career ahead of him, until he is falsely convicted of a triple murder. Carter's only hope rests with a group of his supporters who fight for justice on his behalf...

The inspirational true story of boxer Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter, who was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1966. Told in a series of flashbacks, Washington immerses himself in the role of Carter with a charged, intense passion. The story jumps around in time, from Carter's troubled childhood, to his arrest in 1966, to his fruitless appeals, settling in 1983, when a group of three white adults and a black teenager dedicate their lives to freeing him. Jewison's assured direction keeps these stories from getting jumbled and blurring together. Even in flashbacks, the plot moves forward dramatically, to its eventual rousing conclusion. Based on the novels THE 16TH ROUND by Carter and LAZARUS AND THE HURRICANE by Chaiton and Swinton.

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In his direction of The Hurricane, veteran filmmaker Norman Jewison understands that slavish loyalty to factual detail is no guarantee of compelling screen biography. In telling the story of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter--who was wrongly convicted of murder in 1967 and spent nearly two decades in jail--Jewison and his screenwriters compress time, combine characters, and rearrange events with a nonchalance that would be galling if they didn't remain honest to the core truth of Carter's ordeal. Because of that emotional integrity--and because Denzel Washington brings total conviction to his title role--The Hurricanerises above the confines of biographical fidelity to embrace higher values of courage, compassion, and ultimate justice.

Jewison is woefully heavy-handed in his treatment of the fictionalised, absurdly villainous detective (Dan Hedaya) who zealously plots to keep Carter in jail, and anyone familiar with Carter's story may object to the film's simplified account. But what matters here is the shining star of hope that is Lesra (Vicellous Reon Shannon), the Brooklyn teenager who rejuvenates Carter's legal battle in the early 1980s. This surrogate father-son relationship is what revives Carter's hope for family and future, and makes The Hurricaneso engrossing and emotionally effective. Lesra's real-life Canadian mentors are compressed from nine characters to three, but their efforts are superbly dramatised, and Jewison hits the small but important grace notes that make a good film even better. By its final scenes, The Hurricaneconveys the rich, rewarding satisfaction of surviving a difficult but valuable journey of mind, body, and soul.--Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Deleted Scenes
Subtitles:	Arabic, Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish
Year:	1999
Release Date:	January 8, 2001
Runtime:	140 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	B E D 888285
Keywords:	General, Hurricane, Drama
Genre:	Drama