Just how much pain and resilience can the human spirit endure? This is question asked in Denzel Washington's latest great achievement in film.

Washington plays Rubin "Hurricane" Carter who has been wrongly convicted of a racial murder during the early sixties. It turns out that he wasn't just mistaken as the killer but set-up by a man who has wanted him to pay for a long time.

When I first walked into this film I knew the story and the ending but what kept me in my seat and glued to the screen was the ingenious portrayal by Washington. After two real dismal films like "Fallen" and "Bone Collector", I began to wonder if Hollywood would ever give this wonderful actor another chance. When Washington was "Malcolm X" we believed and felt for the enigmatic historical figure. Now with Hurricane Carter we also believe in him.

Director Norman Jewison's film is also brilliantly layered. The flashbacks and recreations aren't confusing but exhilarating as we are pulled into the world that made this man hate, love and explore the world he did not create. What is also amazing is just how deep this story goes. The revelations involved are what keep the bodies in the seats.

My only small problem with this film is Dan Hedaya who plays Hurricane's arch-nemesis Det. Vincent Della Pesca. Hedaya's not a good enough or exhilarating enough actor to really get to the grime within this man. Hedaya has represented evil in a lot of his films but never has personified it like what was needed here. I often imagined what the film would have been like if an "A" list actor had been in this role. I remember fondly "Crimson Tide" where two Academy Award winners butted heads in greatest scenes of that film. Who do you think could have been a great actor here?

(4.5 of 5) So Says the Soothsayer.