The Hurricane

Moving, albeit truncated account of the true story of middleweight boxing champ Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (Washington--in peak physical and professional form), who was falsely accused and convicted of murder and who spent 20 years in prison. Anchored by a transcendent performance by Washington, pic came under fire for its liberal rearrangement of the facts behind the case. If you want a full lowdown on the case, read one of several books written about this unique court battle by Carter himself ("The Sixteenth Round") or "Lazurus and the Hurricane," which served as the basis for the film; but if you want to see acting that can lift one to a higher spirtual plane, give "The Hurricane" a look. Carter was immortalized in Bob Dylan's 1976 protest song, "Hurricane."