A Soldier's Story
by Norman Jewison
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Actor: Adolph Caesar, Art Evans, David Alan Grier, David Harris, Denzel WashingtonDirector: Norman Jewison
Brand: ROLLINS,HOWARD E. J
Cinematographer: Russell Boyd
Producer: Norman Jewison
Producer: Charles Milhaupt
Producer: Chiz Schultz
Producer: Patrick J. Palmer
Producer: Ronald L. Schwary
Writer: Charles Fuller
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Georgian (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 101 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-08-31
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of A Soldier's Story
DVD Review: Our Nation's Story
Summary: 5 Stars
A Soldier's Story simply has everything working for it, and the result is a frequently overlooked masterpiece that will add depth to any collection of American film. It works as a murder mystery and it works as an astounding inside look into cultural psychology. Certainly the themes of racism - and self-hatred - are universal. But this snapshot of southern race relations in 1944, seen in a military context, is also very specific, and more powerful still because of this specificity.
That these able-bodied men are not in Europe says a great deal, that they are baseball players from the Negro League tells us that even the national pastime was not truly national in 1944. When Captain Davenport, played with spellbinding dignity and power by Howard Rollins, arrives to investigate the murder of a hated drill instructor, he is the first black officer most of the men have ever encountered. Capt. Davenport's seriousness and dedication drive a wedge into the status quo, revealing layers of racism in white and black soldiers alike.
One of this movie's rewards is getting to watch familiar actors just starting their ascent, Denzel Washington, Robert Townsend (Hollywood Shuffle), and David Alan Grier to name a few. Even Philly's own chanteuse, Patti LaBelle, lends some characteristically high notes. But the star of this film is Sergeant Waters, the murdered drill instructor, played with smoldering intensity and conviction by Adolph Caesar. Hard to believe he did not receive an Oscar, after being nominated.
In Sgt. Waters, Caesar creates a man of multi-layered psychological complexity, whose hatred of blacks is more vicious than any white man's ever could be, whose assimilation of white culture is more desperate than any white man's ever is. Sgt. Waters believes himself to be a transformational man, a black who has put the embarrassing shuck-and-jive eye rolling behind him, a man who must kill his own blackness to be free. In doing so, he is responsible for the death of the film's most thoroughly innocent and likable character, C.J. Memphis, played admirably by Larry Riley.
By baiting Memphis, Sgt. Waters severs not only his ties to his true self, but to his humanity, in an attempt to further his crackpot philosophy. At this point he is more than doomed, he is damned. A Soldier's Story is not only a masterpiece of craftsmanship, it is a deeply truthful and humanistic story. Engrossing, but more than mere entertainment - art.
Description of A Soldier's Story
Rollins is a proud black army attorney sent to investigate the ruthless shooting death of Caesar. He learns that Caesar was a vicious man who served the white world and despised his own roots.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG
Release Date: 28-AUG-2001
Media Type: DVD
Director Norman Jewison's (In the Heat of the Night) 1984 adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play explores the ramifications of racism and loyalty through the prism of blacks in the military, revealed through a murder mystery set in the 1940s deep South. Howard E. Rollins (Ragtime) plays a military investigator assigned to the murder of a drill instructor (Adolph Caesar) in charge of a black platoon. Under pressure from his superiors to wrap his investigation up quickly, Rollins instead delves deeply into the relationships between the despised drill instructor and his men, uncovering lies and animosity, and confronting the question of what it means to be black in a white man's world. Rollins is a riveting, stoic, and emotional lead, and Denzel Washington makes an early appearance as a soldier with a deep grudge against the drill instructor and a deep mistrust of Rollins' investigator. A powerfully written story that makes the most of its large and impressive ensemble cast, A Soldier's Story is a deeply affecting and worthwhile film. --Robert Lane
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