Recap: Around the time of the second world war, a black sergeant is murdered on an American Military base in the South. On the base, the privates are mostly black and the officers white, and the atmosphere is racially charged both off and on the base. From Washington comes captain Davenport, a military lawyer graduated from Harvard, to solve the murder. But he is met with mistrust, mostly because he himself is black, something that is still unthinkable among the base personnel. Having but a few days to solve the case Davenport finds that the sergeant was very unpopular and the murderer might be anyone from the officers that saw him with contempt to the privates that he oppressed.
Comments: A good murder story that toys with the idea of presumption. There are many presumptions thrown about in this film, and it is only Davenport that can sort them out, or in many cases, wish to sort them out. It is set in a racially charged atmosphere perhaps best exemplified when Davenport arrives at the base and white trainer asks a black private that is staring "Have you never seen a black officer before?" and the private responds bluntly "No sir have you?".
It is set in the mid forties, but the ideas and presumptions it shows sadly still actual. But it tries to do two things at once, one being the murder story and one showing racial prejudice. It does it good, but there are better murder stories out there, and there are better movies about racism too.
There are many good actors, Howard Rollins Jr. as Davenport among them,(unfortunately many that has died before their time since), but maybe most notable now is an early role for Denzel Washington.
6/10
Comments: A good murder story that toys with the idea of presumption. There are many presumptions thrown about in this film, and it is only Davenport that can sort them out, or in many cases, wish to sort them out. It is set in a racially charged atmosphere perhaps best exemplified when Davenport arrives at the base and white trainer asks a black private that is staring "Have you never seen a black officer before?" and the private responds bluntly "No sir have you?".
It is set in the mid forties, but the ideas and presumptions it shows sadly still actual. But it tries to do two things at once, one being the murder story and one showing racial prejudice. It does it good, but there are better murder stories out there, and there are better movies about racism too.
There are many good actors, Howard Rollins Jr. as Davenport among them,(unfortunately many that has died before their time since), but maybe most notable now is an early role for Denzel Washington.
6/10