Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

tieman64 Robert Benton's "The Human Stain" stars Anthony Hopkins as Coleman Silk, a university professor. Accused of making "racist remarks", Silk is fired from his job."The Human Stain" was written by Philip Roth, an author renowned for needless "cleverness". In "Stain", Silk is revealed to be "actually an African American" who just "happens to be white". Because he is ashamed of revealing his ethnicity, Silk accepts the aforementioned charges of racism. Via flashbacks, we are then granted a glimpse into Silk's younger years. Steeped in self-hate, and occasionally victimised, Silk's life is mirrored to the travails of Faunia Farley (Nicole Kidman), a woman whose own self-hate stems from years of physical and emotional abuse. All other characters in Benton's film, including those played by Ed Harris and Gary Sinise, wrestle with similar problems. They all view themselves as "human stains".Though interesting in theory, "The Human Stain" mostly embodies all of writer Philip Roth's worst qualities. It's too writerly. Too filled with overly "clever ideas". And like most of Roth's books, it's simultaneously obsessed with themes of racial prejudice, self-hate and misplaced guilt, whilst having very little to say about such things. Consider one of Roth's best novels, "Nemesis". Written in the style of 1950s modernism, rather than the self-conscious postmodernism of his other works, "Nemesis" is about a young Jewish man who, during the 1940s, blames himself for an outbreak of Polio, an outbreak which kills Jews and so echoes the Naziism of WW2. For Roth, religious and racial persecution resides primarily in the realm of the mind. Your typical Roth victim blames himself for problems which Roth insists would be overcome if only these characters were capable of ditching their self-loathing. For Roth, prejudice is never a product of class, economics, systems or social institutions. Condescendingly, it's a product of inferior will power. I think I am unequal, therefore I am.7.5/10 - Ranges from excellent to hokey.

India M. A chance circumstance of birth. One child might be handsome, one may be deformed. One never knows what advantages or disadvantages they will be bestowed in life. A fascinating tale of self hatred, undeserved and unnecessary. But not surprising for the time period. When we can't show who we really are, isn't that what we are doing? An unusual story, but most likely a common one. Played understated by both Nicole Kidman and Anthony Hopkins. Ed Harris is menacing as soon as he appears on screen. Gary Sinise is as we, the audience,knowing nothing. Then gradually, it is slowly revealed like an onion. Layer after layer. Nicole Kidman obviously did her research on battered women. It all rings true.Each character struggling with what they do and do not know. What do they choose to do with that? Wentworth Miller was a brilliant choice as the young Coleman.The irony in that casting is revealed in the trivia notes, so don't read them until the film is over. I was enthralled by this film and count it among my favorites of all time.

Luke Reeves This film was a real treat. I am a great fan of kidman, hopkins, Harris and Sinise, I was a little put off by the reviews, however due to my like towards the key actors, I decided to give it a go.The bad reviews might have taken away any positive expectations I might have had before I watched the film. Thus after watching it I was surprised by how much I had enjoyed it. The film made me take a few moments after to think.I admit there were some slow parts in the film, yet I think they were meant to be there on purpose for they certainly gave me the time to think a little about what I had just seen and heard.There were many great lines in the movie, one stayed with me for some reason, the line was: "Action is the enemy of thought." Afterwards I found out it is a famous quote by Joseph Conrad. (1857-1921) All in all a great film lots of emotion great acting and one to remember. Although it may NOT be a must see before you die film.

Desertman84 The Human Stain is a drama film that stars Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman together with Gary Sinise and Ed Harris.It was directed by Robert Benton. The screenplay by Nicholas Meyer is based on the novel of the same name by Philip Roth. Set in the late 1990s at the height of the Clinton sex-scandal, Coleman Silk, a respected professor at a New England college who suddenly finds his life unraveling after a comment he makes about some African-American students is misinterpreted as a racial slur. As the scandal heats up, Nathan Zuckerman, a writer researching a biography of Silk, begins to dig deeper and deeper into Silk's life. Eventually, matters are made worse when an affair with a young married janitor named Faunia Farley is exposed. But amid the controversy, Silk must struggle to keep his greatest secret, a secret he's held for the majority of his life, from becoming public.While the film does overreach at times, and might not be as powerful as the material deserves, The Human Stain is far from a failure.Though it fails to reach its potential to become an excellent film,it remains a challenging, thought-provoking film, buoyed with finely crafted performances from both Hopkin and Kidman for at the end of the movie,you do care for the people here.