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The
Hurricane
(1999)
 | Information at Internet
Movie Database |
| "The
Hurricane and Dr King," Charles Henderson, About.Com. |
|
Cinema in Focus, a
social and spiritual commentary by Hal Conklin and Denny Wayman. |
| Movie
Parables review |
| Hollywood
Jesus visual review |
|
"The
Hurricane: Moving Beyond Contentment," Steve Lansingh, TheFilmForum:
Christian Conversation about the Movies. |
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"A Summer of
Movie-Discussion Nights. Part Five: Lectio Divina and The Hurricane,"
Steve Lansingh, TheFilmForum:
Christian Conversation about the Movies. |
|
Review, Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality & Health -
Spiritual Practices for Human Being. |
| Themes
 | Covenant
 | When the Canadian activists promise that they will
remain in New Jersey, across from the prison, until Ruben Carter is
freed from prison. (submitted by Valerie Humphreys) |
|
| Faith, Father Figure
| Because of Lesra's faith in him,
Hurricane Carter becomes a father-figure to Lesra. |
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| Freedom/Liberation
| Carter finds liberation from the
prisons within himself as well as those outside of himself. |
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| Hope/Hopelessness
| Carter's internal struggle between
hope and hopelessness. |
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| Justice
| The falsely accused is set free. |
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| Love
| "Love is more powerful than hate. That's what
the film was about." (Denzel Washington's acceptance speech for
the Golden Globe Award) |
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| Redemption
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| Resurrection,
Love, Saving/Savior, Rebirth/New Life
| Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a champion
middleweight boxer, is imprisoned for life for murders he did not
commit. After exhausting every possibility for appeal, he tells his
wife that he wants her to divorce him and to move on with her life,
saying, "I'm dead. Forget about me." The Hurricane uses
his prison time to read, study, and eventually write a book about
his life -- a book that is published and becomes a best seller, but
which is then soon forgotten. Years later, a Black teen from the
ghetto finds a copy of the Hurricane's life story at a used book
sale, and buys it for a quarter. Moved by what he read, the young
man, Lesera Martin, writes a letter to the prisoner, and begins a
relationship and a process that eventually leads to the overturning
of the conviction. At a pivotal moment, the Hurricane notes that it
was "no accident" that Lesera had come across that book.
He quotes Genesis 49 about himself, "Reuben, my firstborn . . .
pre-eminent in pride . . . Unstable as water, you shall
not prevail." He then contrasts his name to that of Lesera, a
form of the name Lazarus, the one raised from death. The Hurricane
tells Lesera that hate had killed Reuben and buried him, forgotten,
in the prison walls, but Lesera's love had raised him and given him
life once again. (submitted by Mark D. Johns, Instructor of
Communication/Linguistics, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa) |
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| Spiritual Struggle - Fighting Inner Demons
| Hurricane Carter's self-disciplined, determined side fights with
his violent, self-destructive side. |
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| Wrongly Accused
| Hurricane Carter is wrongly accused and imprisoned for a triple
murder. |
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Index of Movie Titles
Index of Movie Themes
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