Antwone Fisher

3 Pages 705 Words

Book/Film Essay

Finding Fish was the book that inspired the motion picture “Antwone Fisher,” 2001. Finding Fish was written by Antwone Fisher himself and the movie was directed by Denzel Washington. The book is an autobiography that shares little details in significant moments of Antwone’s life; starting with when he was a little boy. In the movie Antwone goes joins the navy and has been sent to the navy psychiatrist, Lt. Commander Jerome Davenport (played by Denzel) because he got in too many fights while on duty. While in the Davenport’s office Antwone tells his life story to him and Antwone learns a lot about himself while sharing his feelings and views. This then leads Antwone to searching for his mother and finds out why she did not care for him when he was a child. Antwone Fisher is a miraculous true story of one courageous man’s journey from abandonment and abuse to extraordinary success.
The scene when Mizz Pickett brings Antwone and his foster brother Dwight downstairs in the basement to whip them was in both versions of the story. This scene has few similarities between the book and the film. First off, both explain how Antwone and Dwight were beaten and tied up to the pole in the basement. Also in both versions their foster sister Flo did come downstairs and eat ice cream in front of them to make them jealous. Flo would always suck up to Mizz Pickett to get on her “good side,” and she was. “Down to the basement we go, where she ties us to the pole that stands from the floor to ceiling – a stanchion, they call it, because it holds the house up” (Fisher 68). In both the novel and film Dwight realizes that he is disliked most by the Picketts and that makes him express some sour feelings towards Antwone.
In the movie Antwone’s foster mothers’ name is Mizz Tate, but in the novel her name is Mizz Pickett. In the book she ties them up to the pole and leaves them there but in the movie she...