A Soldier's Story (1984). Photofest.
(Norman Jewison, US 1984, 101 min., 35mm)
Denzel Washington’s breakout supporting role in this film brought him the first of eight Academy Award nominations. Based on the Pulitzer Prize–winning play by Charles Fuller, the film looks at hatred within and beyond a US Army base in Louisiana in 1944. While a squad of black soldiers are waiting to be deployed to World War II, their sergeant is murdered on his way back from the local watering hole. Captain Davenport (Howard E. Rollins Jr.) is sent to investigate and encouraged by the fort commander to wrap it up quickly. Determined to file an accurate report, Davenport follows the clues to a surprising conclusion. The film also features Robert Townsend, David Alan Grier, Art Evans, Patti LaBelle, and the Oscar-nominated Adolph Caesar in the role of Sergeant Waters he originated on stage.