At the age of 24, Antwone is on the verge of being discharged from the navy due to his anger management issues and more importantly he is poised for complete self-destruction. When Antwone finds himself forced to see Dr. Davenport (Denzel), a military psychiatrist, the foundation on which the young man’s troubles have been formed is slowly revealed. I cried. I laughed. I cried a little harder. I gasped in disbelief. I empathized. Sure, it is easy to get caught up in the emotional roller coasters of fictitious characters. That is what actors are supposed to make you do. However, there is a different level of feeling when you know that the story really happened. Your mind says, “no, surely this cannot be so”, knowing all the while that every day horrible things to everyday 2people and survival is not guaranteed. Still, even with that knowledge, we can usually get through our days relatively detached – basically untouched.

Well, not in this case. There is just so much pain, so much ugliness, so much anger and it is right there in your face. You feel it. You taste it. You are it. It takes your breath away. Antwone Fisher’s life was a seemingly hopeless pit of sorrow: an emotional mire from which it would be impossible to emerge. Yet, through it all, he maintained the wonderful ability to give and to receive love. And from that something glorious arose. Antwone Fisher is a wonderful gift to us all – a lesson about rising above, being in spite of, and forgiving because sometimes that is just what we must to do to set ourselves free.

“…This is my time. No matter what you did to me…I’m still standing…”