Yes, Denzel is 'charismatic,' with multiple meanings of that word

Also, a somewhat paranoid tmatt drops the ';earning to pay attention to pop culture' tag in headlines

It’s a question that reporters (of all kinds) get asked all the time.

People ask: Out of all of the people you have interviewed, who was the (a) most fascinating, (b) most famous, (c) most colorful or (d) most “important” (whatever that means)?

I answered question that a decade ago in a column that I wrote when, briefly, it appeared that my “On Religion” column might be coming to an end. That headline provides an answer: “Eye to eye with Mother Teresa (farewell to Scripps Howard).” Here is a sample of that, using a different adjective:

During this quarter of a century, readers have asked one question more than any other: Who is the most remarkable person you've met while covering religion? That's a tough one. The Rev. Billy Graham or novelist Madeleine L'Engle? Who was the more charismatic positive thinker, the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale or actor Denzel Washington? What was more amazing, seeing Chuck Colson preach inside a prison on Easter or Bono lead a Bible-study group at the U.S. Capitol?

If you are curious about any of those names, head to the search engine page at Tmatt.net and give it a go. For example, try “Tom Hanks.”

However, in this post I would like to focus on the word “charismatic,” with a flashback to my encounter with one of the most important figures in contemporary cinema — Denzel Washington. That column: “The Book of Denzel.”

In a way, this is another example of my familiar “learning to pay attention to popular culture” theme here at Rational Sheep (although I am going to stop using that catchphrase in headlines since, whenever I use it, it seems to inspire a few people to drop their subscriptions). I will continue to spotlight pop-culture “signals” — in the past and, with the help of readers, the present — that I believe religious leaders need to study and address. That’s part of the core mission of Rational Sheep.

Here is “The Book of Denzel.”

---

The first time Denzel Washington read the "Training Day" script, he had an intensely personal reaction to his character — the charismatic, but fatally corrupt, detective Alonzo Harris.

"I try to bend even the worst of my roles, like 'Training Day,' " said Washington, the day after a press screening of "The Book of Eli" in Los Angeles. "The first thing I wrote on my script was 'the wages of sin is death.' "

After that biblical notation, the superstar pleaded for a crucial change in this role, for which he won the Oscar as Best Actor. In the original script, viewers learned about his character's death in a television newscast. Washington insisted that this urban wolf be yanked out of his car and forced to "crawl like a snake" before being riddled with bullets, while people in the neighborhood turned their backs on him.

"I said, 'No, no. ... In order for me to justify him living in the worst way, he has to die in the worst way,' " explained Washington.

For Washington, this "bending" process is part of his ongoing efforts to make sense of his Christian faith in the midst of a career as one of Hollywood's most powerful players in front of, and behind, the camera. The goal isn't to sneak faith into mainstream films, but to pinpoint themes about sin, redemption, justice, dignity and compassion that mesh with what he believes to be true as the son of Pentecostal pastor and an active member of the giant West Angeles Church of God in Christ.

That's what he was doing while playing Malcolm X, emphasizing that his sermons built on racial hatred were evolving into messages rooted in equality. In the violent "Man on Fire," Washington played a bodyguard who decides to sacrifice his own life to save a young girl from kidnappers. This "bending" process is easier in some movies than others.

In the R-rated "Book of Eli" — directors Albert and Allen Hughes call it a "post-nuclear western" — the actor plays a warrior who marches through a devastated American landscape while, literally, on a mission from God. He is carrying the last surviving copy of the King James Bible, along with his machete and a few other weapons that he uses with righteous fervor. Call it "Mad Moses" in "The Prayer Warrior."

"Here's a man who, like Saul, or Paul, gets knocked off his horse and has this epiphany, this moment," said Washington.

In a vision, the voice of God tells Eli, "Take this book west," and promises to protect him until he can deliver it into safekeeping. There is one big difference between Eli's story and the biblical account of St. Paul's conversion, the actor admitted, with a laugh. "I don't know if it said anywhere in there, 'And kill everybody on your way.' "

While early drafts of the script contained even more religious material, the film does show Eli reading the Bible and praying every day. In a pivotal scene, he teaches a young woman how to pray, while trying to protect her from a strongman who wants to seize the Bible to use it as "a weapon aimed at the hearts of the weak and the desperate."

Eli's basic message is simple: "Do more for others than you do for yourself." The movie ends with a prayer that includes a famous quotation from St. Paul: "I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I kept the faith."

Washington said these are the kinds of messages that linger after the Bible studies that he strives to fit into each day. He has worked his way through the Bible three times, spurred on by the example of Pauletta, his wife of 26 years.

While reading the Book of Proverbs recently, he began looking around his house, marveling over "all this stuff." This led to a sobering question: "What do you want, Denzel?" He focused on "wisdom," which led to the word "understanding."

"I said, 'Hey, there's something to work on. How about wisdom and understanding? How about that? I started praying, I said, 'God, give me a dose of that,' " said Washington. "I mean, I can't get … anymore successful, you know, but I can get better. I can learn to love more. I can learn to be more understanding. I can gain more wisdom.

"So that's where I'm at."

And here is “What did Denzel Washington tell Will Smith after the slap heard round the world?”

---

Moments after the Academy Awards slap heard 'round the world, Will Smith huddled during a commercial break with Denzel Washington, another of the Best Actor nominees.

No one could hear what Smith discussed with the man who is both an A-list player and the rare Hollywood superstar who has — after years in hot press spotlights — emerged as a mentor on issues of faith and family.

But Smith appeared to have Washington on his mind during his emotional remarks after winning the Oscar for his work in "King Richard." Smith apologized to his peers for slap-punching Chris Rock after his jest about his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith's shaved head. The comic apparently didn't know she was suffering hair loss with Alopecia.

“In this moment, I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world. … I'm being called on in my life to love people and to protect people," said Smith, tears on his face. "I know that to do what we do, you gotta be able to take abuse, you gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you gotta be able to have people disrespecting you. And you gotta smile and pretend that that's OK."

When Washington offered quiet words of encouragement from offstage, Smith thanked him. He later added: "Denzel said a few minutes ago: At your highest moment, be careful — that's when the devil comes for you."

This was not ordinary Oscars God-talk.

This drama triggered waves of social-media angst, with critics and millions of viewers debating who to blame for this crisis during an otherwise meandering Academy Awards show shaped by politics, pandemics, gender, race and low ratings.

"Some people appreciate that the 'King Richard' actor was rightly defending his wife's honor, saying Rock went too far when making fun of Pinkett-Smith," noted educator Cerith Gardiner, writing for the Catholic website Aleteia. "Others were appalled by Smith's violent response to the insensitive joke.

"Yet, out of all the rapidly-forming opinions, there is one voice that made a lot of sense." Washington's sobering words about temptation and fame during this "normally glamorous evening," she noted, "reminds us that these Hollywood stars, who some hero-worship, have their vulnerabilities and their weaknesses."

It helped to know that comics have been jabbing at the Smiths for years, in part because of constant social-media banter about their unconventional, strained, some have said "open," marriage. There was, for example, this 2013 Facebook comment by Jada: "Will and I BOTH can do WHATEVER we want, because we TRUST each other to do so. This does NOT mean we have an open relationship … this means we have a GROWN one."

Denzel and Pauletta Washington have, in nearly four decades together, survived their own roller-coaster ride of Hollywood rumors and speculation. In 1995 they renewed their marriage vows in rites led by South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

During a 2013 interview with Ebony, Pauletta Washington was blunt, noting: "He's a sex symbol. Everybody's around him. And when we're out, they push me over and run me over to get to him. That part is not so cute. … I live with this man. I see the down part. I see the sad part. I see every part. He has and knows he has that stability in me as his wife."

At the same time, Denzel has become increasingly vocal about his pilgrimage deeper into the Pentecostal faith of his childhood, when he was raised as the son of a Church of God in Christ pastor. Time after time, he has publicly linked his vows to God and his wife.

What did Washington tell Smith? His words may have echoed his 2019 remarks after receiving the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award.

The actor thanked his wife for "40 years of sacrifice, 40 years of forgiveness, of talking about faith, spirituality, love, real love, unwavering love in spite of myself. I would not be alive without Pauletta Washington."

The bottom line, said Washington, was an even higher love. "I'm up here to say thank you to God for giving me this ability, for blessing me, for shaping me, for chastising me, for teaching me, for punishing me, for allowing me to be a vessel and touch people around the world."

---

That’s all for now.

The question, of course, is whether mainstream press coverage of Denzel Washington ever bothers to address these themes in his life and, yes, his work on screen. Readers: Is this side of Washington’s life and work “news” to you?

Oh, and here is one more bonus, based on a commencement address he delivered in 2015. That headline: “Short, candid sermon about faith and life — from Denzel Washington.”

Let me know what you think. I strive to respond to as many comments as I can.