Amazon.com Essentials:
Director Norman Jewison's (In the Heat of the
Night) 1984 adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play
explores the ramifications of racism and loyalty through the prism of
blacks in the military, revealed through a murder mystery set in the
1940s deep South. Howard E. Rollins (Ragtime) plays a
military investigator assigned to the murder of a drill instructor
(Adolph Caesar) in charge of a black platoon. Under pressure from his
superiors to wrap his investigation up quickly, Rollins instead delves
deeply into the relationships between the despised drill instructor
and his men, uncovering lies and animosity, and confronting the
question of what it means to be black in a white man's world. Rollins
is a riveting, stoic, and emotional lead, and Denzel Washington makes
an early appearance as a soldier with a deep grudge against the drill
instructor and a deep mistrust of Rollins' investigator. A powerfully
written story that makes the most of its large and impressive ensemble
cast, A Soldier's Story is a deeply affecting and worthwhile
film. --Robert Lane
