He’s one of our greatest living actors, and Denver’s Sie FilmCenter is here to prove it with a 10-plus-four film series tracing the range and charisma of the incomparable Denzel Washington.
The series kicked off Dec. 1 with Malcolm X — followed by Training Day on Dec. 4 — but you still have a chance to see Virtuosity (Dec. 6-7), Mississippi Masala (Dec. 7), Devil in a Blue Dress (Dec. 8), Inside Man (Dec. 11), Fallen (Dec. 13-14), Philadelphia (Dec. 14), Fences (Dec. 15) and Much Ado About Nothing (Dec. 21). As for the plus four, DENZ-EMBER culminates on Dec. 22 with a four-movie secret marathon.
All are must-sees, but the one that often gets overlooked is an earlier entry into the Washington canon: 1991’s Mississippi Masala from filmmaker Mira Nair.
Befitting of the word “masala” in the title, Nair’s international and intergenerational drama is a collision of forced immigration and prejudice, beautifully illustrated in the car crash that instigates the meet-cute between Mina (Sarita Choudhury) and Demetrius (Washington).
Of Indian heritage, Mina and her family were forced out of their home in Uganda when Idi Amin took power in the early 1970s. Now, they live in and run a roadside motel, like many other Indian immigrants in the Deep South. And like the others, Mina exists on a thin margin, as does Demetrius, who owns a carpet cleaning business. Demetrius is successful, but only because of a tenuous relationship between the Indians running the motels and the white bankers running Mississippi.
But as significant as that background is, and Mississippi Masala devotes an adequate amount of time to it, the heart of this story revolves around the sweet and sexy romance of Mina and Demetrius. Washington is downright radiant in his youth and command. He was roughly 10 years into his career when he made Masala, yet here he is, in all his Washington glory, a true force of conviction softened by those sparkling eyes and that disarming smile.
ON SCREEN: Mississippi Masala screens as part of DENZ-EMBER. Noon Saturday, Dec. 7, Sie FilmCenter, 2510 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. $12
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