Robyn Autry is a sociology professor and director of the Center for the Study of Public Life at Wesleyan University. She is the author of “Desegregating the Past: The Public Life of Memory in the U.S. and South Africa.”
Denzel Washington, who steals the show in 'Gladiator II' with his depiction of Macrinus, a gladiator-turned-arms and slave trader with political aspirations, has always been at his best when he’s playing characters who wrestle with moral questions and personal shortcomings. We’ve seen it in movies like “He Got Game” , “Malcolm X” , “The Hurricane” and “Fences” . He won the Oscar for best actor for playing the equally righteous and sadistic LAPD Detective Alonzo Harris in “Training Day” .
It follows, then, that he can play bad guys convincingly but he’s not a bad guy — even if he’s done things that would get him labeled as bad throughout his life. As Macrinus, Washington delivers his lines and flashes that smile as only he can, playing a character who we know from the beginning is sketchy. But Macrinus’ disdain for the bloodthirsty regime that held him as a slave is somewhat noble.
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