..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

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Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins) has a secret. It is not something simple, it is a lie - a crippling, soul destroying lie - that has so informed his life that to reverse it would be to undo all that has shaped his adult life. But allow me to be coy for a while longer. Though the crux of The Human Stain (its very title is a tip off) has been discussed quite openly and is derived from the bestseller by Philip Roth published in 2000, there are many who will be taken aback by the revelation that occurs about a third of the way into the screen version.

Nicolas Mayer has adapted the source material quite elegantly into a cat's cradle that begins at the end and continues through an emotional stream of conscious of the many pasts of Coleman Silk. The quasi narrator is Nathan Zuckerman (Gary Sinese), a writer of some acclaim who's hiding out in New England pretending to be working on a new novel but hopelessly blocked at around page 44. On one of Zuckerman's rare forays into town, he's virtually assailed by Silk who cajoles and exhorts him to drop whatever he's doing and write something about the injustice of his situation.

In the hermetic confines of the college town it's common knowledge that Silk, a revered author and teacher of the classics, resigned his position rather than go through a kangaroo court inquiry resulting from a presumed racial slur. Silk, referencing to two students who had not attended his lectures, posed aloud this rhetorical question: Do they exist, or are they spooks? When the AWOL undergrads turned out to be African-Americans, sensitivity and political correctness rapidly engulfed reason. His colleagues seized the moment, forgot that Silk, a Jew, had been in the forefront of pressing for female and minority teachers in the department.

His fit of pique not only saw the door of the academic world slam in his face, but the ensuing stress took a fatal toll on his wife. His idea for a book seems a bit half- baked, but it does allow for some human contact.

It also provides Roth, Meyer and director Robert Benton with an all-purpose coat hanger to explore an America where race, class and religion have borders and boundaries. The ivied walls of academe are not the haven of tolerance and equality they purport but a fortress with a carefully considered quota. All those who enter must embrace unstated elitist tenets or risk banishment. The Human Stain is the tale of an exile who discovers he missed a great deal in life when he zeroed in on a destination that seemed safe, secure and ennobling.

Life, he discovers, is guided by the sort of chance and circumstance he so rigorously rooted out of his life 40 years earlier. And here's the irony. Silk was turfed out of Eden for a racial epithet against his own kind. He, as we learn in flashback, is a light skinned black man who, encouraged by a surrogate father, passes for white. No one questions him when he says he is a Jew. It is not a point of discussion; it is matter of factly accepted.

Silk is on the one hand so far gone, he cannot return to his black roots. But the Coleman Silk that is a scholarly outcast is suddenly enabled and open when a house cleaner and bar hostess named Faunia (Nicole Kidman) finds him sexually and emotionally attractive. His "last love" unexpectedly eases the pain of denial and deceit that has haunted his every step.

There's no question that one has to take the leap of accepting Hopkins as an African-American and it seems, in context, no more difficult than believing him as the Spanish father of Zorro or someone who eats human flesh. He is an actor that carries weight, figuratively. Hopkins is exceptionally good at portraying some that's internalized problems, even when he appears to be outwardly forthright. Dramatically, it is his film while emotionally the movie belongs to Kidman, an actress who continues to surprise with chameleon like qualities. It is extraordinary and powerful work, perhaps her most fully realized and potent screen character. The film is very strong on performance, particularly that of Wentworth Miller as Silk in his early twenties.

Benton has always excelled with actors and story but has never impressed as more than technically efficient. The Human Stain doesn't look or feel like anything on his resume. It reminded me of The Sweet Hereafter in the way that silence informs its rhythms and in the grace of its camera movement. Both films have an inevitable tragedy and both have a visual assuredness that softens the blow. It is exquisitely shot by Jean-Yves Escoffier who died shortly after completion of the film and has a haunting musical score from Rachel Portman.

A Miramax Films release of a Lakeshore/Stone Village production. Produced by Gary Lucchesi, Scott Steindorf, Tom Rosenberg. Director, Robert Benton. Screenplay, Nicholas Meyer, based upon the novel by Philip Roth. Camera, Jean-Yves Escoffier. Editor, Christopher Tellefsen. Music, Rachel Portman. Production design, David Gropman. Costumes, Rita Ryack.

Anthony Hopkins (Coleman Silk), Nicole Kidman (Faunia Farely), Gary Sinese (Nathan Zuckerman), Ed Harris (Lester Farely), Wentworth Miller (Young Coleman), Anna Devere Smith (Mrs. Silk).

- Leonard Klady

Release Date: October 31, 2003
Rated:R

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Starring: Anthony Hopkins,
Nicole Kidman, Gary Sinise,
Ed Harris, Jacinda Barrett

Produced by: Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi,
Thomas Rosenberg,
Scott Steindorff


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Distributor: Miramax

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Review Date: November 2, 2003