Right Cinema

In the second season of one of my favorite shows when I was in high school, Picket Fences , a new D.A. was elected to the small town of Rome, Wisconsin. Don Cheadle played in 35 episodes as D.A. John Littleton, and he immediately drew me in as a very likeable and warm character.

In a time when TV was still a distant second to the silver screen, Cheadle made a smooth transition and has played memorable roles ever since. He played an undercover agent in the Oscar winning Traffic (2000), he was hilarious as an explosives expert with a Cockney accent in Ocean’s Eleven (2001), he was part of another ensemble Oscar winning picture in Crash (2004), he was nominated for an Oscar in the awe shocking Hotel Rwanda (2004), and he played in a movie that was both sweet and sad with Adam Sandler in Reign Over Me (2007).

In 1999, Cheadle played in a lesser known made-for-TV movie, A Lesson Before Dying. Set in the deep South in the 1940s, an African American (played by Mekhi Phifer) is wrongly accused with murder, and his attorney’s only defense to keep him from being sentenced to death is that the black man’s worth is that of a hog and it would be absurd to put a hog on the electric chair. Don Cheadle plays a teacher who helps the young man find his dignity so that he can walk as a man before his life is meaninglessly ended.

This movie was subtly powerful and tragically beautiful. Yes, it was made-for-TV, but it won numerous awards including an Emmy for Outstanding Made for Television Movie. After watching A Lesson I realized two things about Don Cheadle. One, he is very good working with others and he does not need the spotlight. Ensemble movies typically do not work because there is not enough room for all the stars to shine, but Don Cheadle consistently plays in amazing ensemble movies. Second, his characters are always very warm, endearing, and comforting, and if I were behind bars and on death row, I know who I would want my teacher to be.

I think it would be wrong to write about Don Cheadle and not mention his tireless humanitarian work to stop the genocide in Darfur. Here are links to www.1800genocide.com and a CNN article about his efforts.

Click below to see a trailer for Cheadle’s documentary Darfur Now and to view an interview with him regarding Darfur and the 1800Genocide.com organization.