The Play Fences by August Wilson - Essay Example

The film features Troy Maxson who makes a living as a sanitation worker and once dreamed of being a professional base ballplayer but was deemed too old for the profession. He creates tension in his family by killing his son’s dream of being a foot ballplayer, and by cheating on his wife. The overall qualities of this film with respect to its acting and performance directing and cinematography are great or simply above average. These innate qualities are highlighted as Denzel Washington, the director of the film carefully moves the action along with the long speeches past the high-pitched exchanges to the emotional depth of the film, as the audience is guided by the character Troy Maxson.

He is at first seen as a sociable man with a modest life in a discreet manner, but as the film continues, he is portrayed as a man struggling with the past and present disappointments in his life providing life in performance for the audience. This is specially brought to light by one of the scenes in the film whereby Troy refuses to let his son play football by claiming that he did not want him to suffer from the same heartache he suffered from his past (Wilson, 2016). The quality of the film was achieved through the focus of Troy's character as a lead character as it brings out and shapes the characters of those around him, especially his wife's and son's character through their high pitched and emotional exchanges.

 The themes in the Fences film that were successfully raised are racism and institutional biases. This is because; the themes of racism and responsibility were successfully portrayed in the scenes of the film. For example, racism in the film is portrayed when Troy tells his son that the white man will let him go nowhere with that football as he tries to stop his son from pursuing the sport (Wilson, 2016). This instance is also proof of institutional biases as the white man Troy is referring to also represents the football institution or team he was playing for or wanted to play for.