Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 14, 1995 TAG: 9509140022
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It begins with a series of stark, violent images - the bodies of young black men gunned down in the drug business - but manages to end on a realistically hopeful note. The body of the film is about the murder of a drug dealer, but it's not a conventional crime story. Spike Lee is more interested in the social forces that have created today's urban drug/gun culture and the personalities of the people caught up in it.
Like many brothers, Strike (Mekhi Phifer) and Victor (Isaiah Washington) Dunham are both similar and strikingly different. Victor holds down two jobs to support his wife and kids. Strike is a "clocker" or street-level drug dealer who works all hours on his Brooklyn corner. Strike takes his profession so seriously that he's ruining his health, but he's still his boss Rodney's (Delroy Lindo) favorite employee.
When Rodney needs to eliminate a competitor, he turns to Strike. It's the next step up on his career ladder. But after the killing, when homicide cops Rocco Klein (Harvey Keitel) and Larry Mazilli (John Turturro) begin their investigation, it's Victor who voluntarily confesses.
Did this straight-arrow citizen really commit a senseless crime or is he trying to protect his little brother? Klein won't accept any easy answers and becomes more involved in Strike's life.
That's the frame Lee uses to examine the crack cocaine trade and its effects on the neighborhood. It's also the basis for his often-repeated message: "No More Packing." In other words: "Put down the weapons." He understands the romanticism of firepower, particularly where young men are concerned, and the ways that pistols raise the stakes with the other problems and pressures these characters face.
The script, co-written by Lee and Richard Price from his novel, presents no clearcut heroes or villains. The relationship between Strike and Rodney is complex and filled with conflicting emotions of love and betrayal. The same could be said of Strike and Klein; Strike and Victor; Strike and his even younger protege Tyrone (Pee Wee Love).
In many ways, this is Lee's most assured film to date. Gone are the stylistic experiments of "Crooklyn" and "Malcolm X." Instead, he lets the characters carry the weight of the story, and he got superb performances from his cast.
It's no surprise that Keitel is so good. He's perfectly cast as a weary cop who's seen too much but is still sympathetic. Delroy Lindo continues the growth he showed in "Crooklyn," and deserves a supporting-actor Oscar nomination. The surprise is 19-year-old Mekhi Phifer. He holds his own with his more experienced co-stars, and never hits a false note. He's able to make Strike a compelling and even likeable character, a young man who has made a career choice and is coming to realize what that decision means to his community, to his family and finally to himself.
"Clockers" is a genuine rarity in American motion pictures - a serious film with vividly expressed political opinions, but still an entertaining story that's fascinating from first frame to last.
Clockers *** 1/2
A Universal release playing at the Valley View Mall 6. 126 min. Rated R for subject matter, violence, strong language.
by CNB