It's More Than An Old Man Romancing A Young Woman
----A Review on Movie: The Human Stain
Frankly I am not much into movies about mid-aged men romancing ladies who are
much younger. But such stereotype stories never seem able to deter Hollywood fro
m repeating again and again. This time they do succeed in drawing my attention w
ith their much-ballyhooed movie, an adaption based on a well-known novel, The Hu
man Stain. But actually it's the two stars, who have become household names even
here in China, that turned my head: Anthony Hopkins, who impressed most Chinese
audience by his horrific gaze in Silence of The Lambs, and Nicole Kidman, who i
s widely believed to be one of the most gorgeous actresses in the world. Of cour
se the filmmakers know very well how to conjure up the biggest selling point: Wh
at about Hopkins romancing Kidman?
This alone seems enough to make a big wave among fans around the world, but it
's the real subject behind the story that truely distinguishes the movie from al
l other corny celluloids.
Coleman (by Hopkins) is an eminent college professor who has fought his way to
the position of Dean of the college. However, right before his retirement from
the post, he stirs up the circle by calling two students who have missed his cla
ss for 5 weeks "spooks", which people believe has racism connotations, and the t
wo students happen to be black. The incident actually forces Coleman's hand to r
esign before it's due and results in his wife's death of shock. The distraught o
ld man turns to a writer (by Gary Sinise) living nearby and asks him to write a
book about this absurd story. Though the writer declines the request, they end u
p becoming good friends. This is how the story begins and then the audience lear
ns Coleman's life by the narratives from the novelist.
Though many would assume the biggest kicker to be the romance between the horn
y old man and the beaufiful young janitor, it's the professor's mysterious famil
y background that is more intriguing. Having been recognized as a successful whi
te Jew since the very beginning, Coleman is actually of black heritage. Realizin
g all difficulties he may have to face in the future as a black man, and having
undergone a failed first love after revealing his ancestry, Coleman, who happens
to be so light black that he can identify himself as white, goes to great lengt
hs to pass as a white man, even at the cost of family estrangement. That's the i
ronic part of the story, and what the movie producers want to reveal on the side
-- a black professor is forced to leave the position because he is accused of c
ursing his students with words of racism.
The romance, however, seems rather unconvincing to me, despite the excellent p
erformance of both the actor and actress. Kidman plays a local white young moman
who has a miserable past life. Unfortunate the character may seem, it's not con
vincing enough that she turns her head for this mistreated college professor who
's old enough to be her grandfather, even though she's deeply impressed by his k
nowledge and maturity. What sounds even more far-fetched is a young woman as gor
geous as Nicole Kidman is, she's not likely a school cleaner. :P Kidman certainl
y tried her best, but her glamorous charms just serve to be a monkey wrench in t
he story, which already sounds odd in the first place.
So the movie is actually more about a condemnation against racism than about a
n old man romancing a young woman as it appears to be.
Another point that I think I have to refer to is that the actor who plays the
young professor in The Human Stain happens to be the same heart-throb starring t
he hit TV series at the moment, Prison Break. And he is really well received for
his performance in this movie, which is actually produced in 2003.
Panpanpan.