Customer Reviews
Captured me from beginning to end. - By: David R. Bishop, 03 Mar 2008 
Antony Hopkins & Nicole Kidman are just brilliantin their roles,in this movie that should be better known & regarded.
Historical racism is contrasted with what Hopkins' character refers to as 'The double dyed hyprocracy of political correctness'. Difficult decisions takenin youth cascade down the decades. I find it fascinating & thought-provoking.
I never like to give the plot away, this one unfolds believably with tragic consequences, that kept me on the edge of my seat. It's well worth checking out.
Interesting plot-driven character study - By: Dennis Littrell, 08 Mar 2007 
Classics Professor Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins), exasperated that two students have yet to show up for his class points to their empty seats & ask rhetorically, "Do they exist or are they spooks?" He should have chosen his words more carefully because the two absent students are black & Silk is subsequently charged with using racial slurs by the college.
Yes, this could definitely happen, although one would expect it to be cleared up once there was an investigation. However, Coleman Silk gets more than a little uptight. Something has hit a nerve. He has enemies. He doesn't cooperate &in fact resignsin face of the charge. His wife drops dead, & at the age of 71 Coleman gets involvedin a Viagra-hyped love affair with Faunia Farley (Nicole Kidman), a 34-year-old cleaning woman & high school dropout with a past.
Turns out that Coleman too has a past, & that past partially explains why he got so uptight about the racial slur charge. Seems that Coleman has "passed." Seems that he was "colored" & didn't want to be colored & so forsook his family & passed into the white world & never looked back.
This is from the novel by Philip Roth, who has written many splendid novels. The adaptation is by Nicholas Meyer who did most of the scripts for the Star Trek movies. Robert Benton's direction is professional & clear. Anthony Hopkins is very good as one would expect & Nicole Kidman as a hardtack brunette with worry lines on her face is vividly real as the bitter, but vulnerable Faunia Farley. Ed Harris plays her also bitter, spaced-out, estranged husband, a twisted Viet Vet with malevolence on his mind.
The story is toldin a straight-forward way with flashbacks to Coleman's past where we see that he was a welterweight prize fighter for a while & had his heart broken because his very blonde bride-to-be just couldn't stomach the thought of marrying into a Negro family. Wentworth Miller plays young Coleman & definitely looks & acts the part. Anna Deavere Smith plays his mother with the kind of dignity you would expect from a woman who raised the son of Pullman porter to become a classics professor at a small New England private college. Gary Sinise as Coleman's neighbor, Nathan Zuckerman (and Philip Roth perennial), narrates the story from the novel he eventually writes.
Allin all an interesting movie that recalls an age gone by while at the same time reminding us that the politically correct postmodern world is upon us.
See this for Nicole Kidman who is on her way to becoming one of the great stars of the cinema as yet again she shows that she cannot be typecast, & for Anthony Hopkins, one of the more accomplished actors of our time.
Peak performances - By: Stephen A. Haines, 07 Jan 2007 This film grabs the viewer from the opening scene. Through a winter's bleak landscape, a car's easy progress along the dark road is enhanced by the sedate pace of the background music. Before the credits have stopped running, the car is rolling into the roadside stream, the occupants clearly lost. An oncoming vehicle has driven them off the road deliberately, then continues on. Why has such a murder occurred?
Coleman Sylk [Hopkins] a classics scholar, denies a student's charge of racism as "spectacularly false", yet resigns his college postin protest. He contacts Nathan Zuckerman [Sinise] to commission him to write the story of his life - the son of "the only Jewish saloon keeperin East Orange". Zuckerman, a writer suffering "block" is reluctant to undertake the task, but as he learns more about Sylk, he becomes fascinated by the man. The unfolding story is far more of "An American Tragedy" than Theodore Dreiser could have ever envisioned.
Sylk, whose real story is far more convoluted than that of the "son of a Jewish saloon keeper", is an angry man. His outbursts aren't violent - that aspect of his life is clearly under tight control. But the events of his youth are reflectedin his dealings with othersin his later life. To explain this, Sylk's early life [Wentworth Miller] is portrayed as a succession of deceptions, from his struggle to follow his own desires against his father's wishes, to that father's own rolein life. Coleman wanted to be boxer - he was goodin the ring. But he follows a different path to become a classical scholar. The "first Jew to teach classical literaturein America" - according to narrator Zuckerman.
The source of Coleman's ire becomes clear when he tells Zuckerman about his first love. Whilein university, he meets a young woman & invites her home to dinner. The result is an actin a long-term tragedy. A tragedy that has yet to be played out bothin the film &in real life. Convoluting Coleman's already bizarre existence is his unexpected encounter with Faunia Farley [Nicole Kidman]. In what is demonstrably her best role, Kidman is a woman beset by tragic circumstances. Their liaison, which should be completely out of character for both, proves stable & enduring. A cynical farm woman struggling for survival, she should have little to offer the classics scholar. But Coleman's own struggles provide a hidden bond. The two become lovers, mutually reinforcing & restoring a positive approach to their lives.
It's easy for Hopkins to impart tensionin a film role - he's done it often enough. But here, he displays a new version of that emotion. There is the visible manifestation of self-control. While he can release his rage when he's relating his story to Zuckerman, a whole new aspect appears when he's with Kidman. In turn, while she might simply be grateful for his attention, Kidman becomes enamoured of his qualities. She discovers his strengths & capacities, leading her to develop a sincere affection for this stranger. Together, the endure challenges & overcome them. All but the last one.
There are many rolesin this film deserving applause. Anna Deveare Smith's depiction of Coleman's mother, Ed Harris as Faunia's ex-husband and, of course, Jacinda Barrett as Coleman's university-days lover stand out well under Benton's direction. Hopkins & Kidman, however, rightly dominate this production. Kidman,in particular, exhibits a capacity hardly promisedin her other roles. This film is reminiscent of two of Sean Connery'sin which two co-stars, Lorraine Bracco & Catherine Zeta-Jones seem to suddenly blossom out of previous mediocrity. Was there an unforeseen magic between Hopkins & Kidman, or did Benton provide a catalyst needed to bring out the best these two could provide? However the formula worked, the product is something outstanding. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
hum... - By: Chloe Word, 25 Oct 2006 Pro's: Anthony Hopkins is credible; he is not hammy. Good point for Wentworth Miller, he's perfect: both A.Hopkins & W.Miller are charismaticin their common role. Ed Harris is touchingin the role of the writer. Moving story, especially the scenes where young Coleman decides to deny his identity. Les (the character, I don't remember the actor's name) is highly sadistic; he looks like a dangerous lunatic.
Con's: Humm bad point for Kidman: her character is a caricature of the 'poor mother' type! Too bad they reduced the importance (in the film) of Iris, Coleman's wife. It's as if she was not important at all. Pb: we never really see Coleman being fired... He leaves the college out of the blue and... that's all. Steena Paulsson is like an innocent little girl; she has no charisma (how could Coleman fallin love with her??)
But: I liked the film & I intend to read the book! ;-)
I shall have to read the book now ... - By: Marshall Lord, 19 Oct 2006 "The Human Stain" is the film version of a highly acclaimed book by Philip Roth. It is a moving & powerful, if rather sad story. I suspect that it wasn't possiblein a normal length film to do justice to all the ideasin the original book, & having watched the film I will now have to read the book to find out.
The film begins with a car crash. Then it jumps back a few months, & you are told that Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins) is a distinguished Jewish classics professor, & Dean of a college which he has turned round at the price of making plenty of enemies.
It is five weeks into a new academic term, & Silk is giving a seminar. He notes that two students, who had missed all his previous lectures & seminars, are absent yet again, having failed to attend a single one of his lessons since arriving at the college. He asks if they are real, or "spooks." Never having laid eyes on the individuals concerned, he did not know that they are black. Spooks used to be a rude word for an african-american, so Coleman Silk finds himself accused of racism.
Silk explodes with anger, giving ammunition to the enemies who want an excuse to oppose him, while those he has helped do not dare stand up for him. The irony is that he could have stopped the allegationin its tracks with a truth which he cannot bring himself to share - for he has been living a lie for many years.
The title "The human stain" refers to the impact all of us have on the world around us.
The film is not particularly fast paced, but it is very powerful, & has some excellent acting, particularly from Hopkins as Coleman Silkin old age, Wentworth Miller who plays Silk as a young man, & Nicole Kidman as Faunia Farely, a penniless young woman who he becomes involved with. Other performances worthy of note include those of Anna Deavere Smith, & Ed Harris as Faunia's psychotic ex-husband.
Not a film to watch if you want a "lift" or cheering up. But a good one if your want some powerful & moving drama.
