Denzel Washington

[Nathan Newman]

The progressive aspect of the film is that it is a harsh condemnation of
police brutality-- it starts off with Denzel promoting the idea that liberal
types don't understand what is needed to fight crime and even promotes the
idea that black tough cops like Denzel's Olanza represent what the community
really wants to fight the scum in the community.  And yeah, it takes one to
know one, but as long as the job is getting done, why degrudge a bit of a
taste to the guardian of the community?  And Denzel uses all of his charisma
to sell that viewpoint initially, taking in his young liberal-minded white
colleague Ethan Hawke.

And then the whole story gets flipped, as the true brutality of Alonzo comes
out.  The end story goes a bit over the top in the degree of violence and
convoluted plot, but it's a harsh story that reveals that this kind of
police brutality is not supported by the community either. Denzel is not
playing an antihero as representatve of the black community, but to
highlight that he is a betrayer of that community.

Nathan Newman
nathan at newman.org

----- Original Message -----
From: "Max Sawicky" <sawicky at bellatlantic.net>
To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2002 6:36 PM
Subject: RE: Denzel Washington

Jaded my fanny.  The Harris character is a complete
gangster.  Having a little son doesn't do much to
humanize him.  It doesn't stop him from waging a
wild gun battle in his girlfriend's apartment, while
the little one is toddling about.

Washington is good in the role, the story is interesting
and hangs together, but it sounds like the writer(s) are
missing the point.  The nature of the breakout, career-wise,
is that DZ plays a completely evil person rather than a
protagonist.  Much worse than, say, the Fishburne
character (Bumpy Johnson, I think) in that other movie
with Vanessa Williams, whose title ("Hoodlum"?) escapes
me. Fishburne only murders white gangsters and corrupt
cops, and tells Williams (who plays a Salvation Army
type) that more honorable careers are closed to him.

The irony in the mundane title of Training Day is that the
new recruit basically goes through Hell, with Harris as host.

mbs


> In _Training Day_ . . .Washington plays Alonzo Harris, an
> ambitious yet
> jaded narcotics officer compromised by his own pragmatism. . . .Training
. . .
>
> Alonzo, a veteran of the Machiavellian war on drugs waged
> in the very
> communities he comes from, has grown into an accomplished cynic ready to
> get out of narcotics and apss the torch to Hoyt, in whom he sees
> promise. . . .