Here's One for the Brothers We've Lost

by Esther Iverem
SeeingBlack.com Editor and Film Critic

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Like no other actor, Denzel Washington has brought a range of Black men to the screen who we can identify as real, not wholly Hollywood creations. Yet, almost without exception, all of his characters, including Malcolm X, a defiant ex-slave in "Glory," a military man in "Courage Under Fire" and boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, can be plotted somewhere in the realm of race men, flawed-but-good guys, and even prince charming.

But his artistic realm shifts in "Training Day." As rogue cop Alonzo Harris, Washington plays another kind of brother we know very well: one who spews bile and bullets with a smile. Harris could be any kind of thug--a drug dealer, a pimp, a conman, a hitman or carjacker. He could be any of those who have discovered how easy it is to get ahead, legally or illegally, on the backs and misery of others. But it just so happens that he is a crooked narcotics cop.

Washington plays the part convincingly, with the right amount of wicked swagger that is the norm for our hood-grown thugs. Harris's evil confidence, no doubt, involves a smiling deal with the devil, a quick measure of who is predator and prey and a game of Russian roulette with death. Maybe the likes of Harris, suave, alluring and yet totally unredeemable, have not shown up on prime time. He is too scary and, besides, he routinely preys on only his own kind--us.(So this Denzel performance will not get the praise in some quarters accorded to, say, Ben Kingsley in "Sexy Beast.") This is a poem sent up from Harlem, or North Philly or "The Jungle" in Los Angeles about the brothers we have lost, but we still pray have retained some of what their mommas taught them. This is also a poem, a bloody and unresolved one, about getting lost in the corrupt judicial system.

Harris' rookie-in-training, Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke), also makes this story about the relationship of one innocent, good White man to the most animalized Black thug. Hoyt badly wants to join Harris narcotics squad. He wants to make detective. He wants a house like detectives have. But he has no idea that Harris' unit is all about graft and robbery and murder. He learns, eventually, on his first day of work, his training day, that he is a simply a pawn in a scheme that has nothing to do with fighting crime. Through Harris and Hoyt, there is an old-fashioned fight of good versus evil that is played out on the streets. The tension and turns in the plot are thickened by the question of whether there is still honor on the street, and whether there is honor among thieves.

The poem here is created by director Antoine Fuqua ("Bait") who creates atmospheric scenes of the street that don't look like those Hollywood ghetto sets made from dirty plywood and dated graffiti. By simply appearing and scowling, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg add their thug personas to the L.A. mix. As in "Bait," this film is dark. The light is often cold with a greenish tinge, as if the world is literally full of bile. In one scene, the rookie is told to smoke what he doesn't realize is angel dust and the world melts before his eyes. All this detail serves the exploration of modern, casual evil among us, and, as we all have recently learned--how much your life can change in just one day.

Esther Iverem reviews also appear on the lifestyle and movies channels of BET.com

-- October 14, 2001

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