In her Oscar speech, the wonderful Viola Davis gave away the reason why she's an actress. She said she wants to tell stories that celebrate life. That's exactly what Fences is about. Celebrating the whole journey.
Fences is about a man, with so many fallen dreams. You can look at him and his dreams with very different lenses. You can see a man who has killed his own dreams, a man who chose to be miserable, stiff and unable to enjoy the little things in life. You can also see him as an innocent hardworking one who was pulled down with weights bigger than he could carry. You can see him as a lucky man considering his doings, who has a job, a family and a very good friend. And you can see him as all of these in one human being. There will be things you'll appreciate and others you don't, and that depends on who you are as a person.
Fences is also about poverty, about love and respect and how fine a line can be drawn between both. It's about the difference between what we can change and what we will have to accept. It is about choices. It is about our minds, how and what we choose to believe. There are also painful scenes about mental illness, painful and poetic and true. My personal opinion is that race is not one of the themes as others have pointed out. I guess the story is very universal, very inclusive.
The acting in the whole movie was one of the best I have ever seen. Amazing direction, amazing screenplay. Maybe the first 30 minutes weren't very eventful or purposeful, but the overall slow rate and steady rhythm were important to the story as a whole.
People who love slow movies, with good drama and realistic characters may enjoy this. I don't know if we can learn something out of it, just enjoy it or have some good discussions about its themes. I guess it offers something different for everyone.
Fences is about a man, with so many fallen dreams. You can look at him and his dreams with very different lenses. You can see a man who has killed his own dreams, a man who chose to be miserable, stiff and unable to enjoy the little things in life. You can also see him as an innocent hardworking one who was pulled down with weights bigger than he could carry. You can see him as a lucky man considering his doings, who has a job, a family and a very good friend. And you can see him as all of these in one human being. There will be things you'll appreciate and others you don't, and that depends on who you are as a person.
Fences is also about poverty, about love and respect and how fine a line can be drawn between both. It's about the difference between what we can change and what we will have to accept. It is about choices. It is about our minds, how and what we choose to believe. There are also painful scenes about mental illness, painful and poetic and true. My personal opinion is that race is not one of the themes as others have pointed out. I guess the story is very universal, very inclusive.
The acting in the whole movie was one of the best I have ever seen. Amazing direction, amazing screenplay. Maybe the first 30 minutes weren't very eventful or purposeful, but the overall slow rate and steady rhythm were important to the story as a whole.
People who love slow movies, with good drama and realistic characters may enjoy this. I don't know if we can learn something out of it, just enjoy it or have some good discussions about its themes. I guess it offers something different for everyone.