Rating of
3/4
The Human Stain review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 01/11/12
Two stories of Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins), 1st Jew to teach in America, and is a Dean at a college and a boxer in his youth. Iris his wife gets stressed and died in his arms since he had plans of resigning for being sued because of the student’s perception of a racial slur “spooks”. Nathan Zuckerman (Gary Sinise) is a writer approached by Coleman. The two converses and bond, Nathan narrates his experience of him dragging back to life. Coleman gets close with Faunia Farley (Nicole Kidman) and knows her background. Lester Farley (Ed Harris), Faunia’s ex-husband who served in Nam, knows about Coleman.
Some of the scenes with the love making and Coleman and Nathan dancing scenes ran a bit long, which most probably the director wants to show more emotion between the characters. Screenplay was extraordinary with a few memorable quotes: Farley – “Action is the enemy of thought.” “Nothing else matters.” Coleman – “I don’t think you can measure sorrow.” The late cinematographer did a wonderful job and score endearing which matches the deep and stained figures. Nicole Kidman was fantastic as Faunia and Anthony Hopkins became Coleman while the storytelling was never confusing. The Human Stain is an underrated romantic drama with themes of loneliness, racism, risks, societies opinions, human flaws and friendship.
