Antwone Fisher (2002)

REVIEW

The triumph of hope and healing is at the heart of the first film directed by actor Denzel Washington. Antwone Fisher is based on the true story of author and screenwriter Antwone Fisher, and knowing this helps a viewer counter the slight too good to be true factor in the movie.

We first meet Antwone (Derek Luke) as a young Navy enlisted man who has a history of uncontrolled anger which is about to earn him a court martial and eviction from the Navy. His punishment for attacking a fellow sailor requires that he spend three sessions with Navy psychiatrist Jerome Davenport (Denzel Washington). Davenport patiently outwaits the uncooperative Fisher until his client is ready to talk. The story that emerges is one of extreme child abuse at the hands of a foster mother and her daughter, exacerbating his feeling of abandonment by the parents he has never known.

Fisher slowly emerges from his protective shell with Davenport, progress mirrored in his cautious response to Cheryl (Joy Bryant), a sailor he is attracted to. Davenport coaches him through his first date and becomes a father figure.

The childless Davenport for his part invites Fisher to join his family for Thanksgiving dinner. The deepest longing of Antwone, as we see in the film’s opening dream sequence, is to be welcomed into the embrace of a large family with whom he shares a plentiful feast, including heaps of pancakes. But his Thanksgiving with the Davenports ends unhappily, and Fisher’s three allotted counseling sessions are up. He again feels abandoned, but at Davenport’s urging and with the support of his girlfriend he seeks out his real parents.

In a scene that movingly demonstrates that Fisher has faced his past, he confronts his abusive foster mother. “I am still standing. I am still strong,” he tells her. From her he at least learns the name of his father. Fisher and Cheryl become their own phone book detectives, calling endless telephone numbers with no result. A last ditch effort turns up a sister of his deceased father, who, as Antwone already knew, was killed in a shooting. Through this aunt he meets his father’s family and visits his sadly unrehabilitated mother. In the end, his father’s extended family rallies round him with the family feast of his dreams including pancakes.

Antwone Fisher offers no chase scenes or special effects, which underscores the primal appeal of the story the tragedy of abandonment, the yearning to have someone believe in us and the importance of a family’s unconditional love. Antwone Fisher is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and human dignity.

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