Big gulp of castor oil: John Singleton's re-enactment of the torching of a black community, and massacre of its citizens, in Florida in the Twenties. Simple in presentation; graphic; grueling; dramatically crude. But it makes its point. Over and over. Only Jon Voight, in a truly tortured performance as the white storekeeper in town, occupies a sizable gray area between good and bad. (And maybe Michael Rooker, a smaller, darker-gray area, as the powerless lawman of the district.) Ving Rhames, a laconic stranger on horseback, fills the larger-than-life hero's shoes, and his startling escape from a lynching enlarges him for a moment to the size of superhero. With Don Cheadle, Esther Rolle, Elise Neal. (1997) — Duncan Shepherd
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