If there is one actor or actress that moves me to the very core of my being it is Viola Davis. The first time I saw her act was in The Help, a movie about the lives of black domestic workers in 1960s Mississippi. Since then I have watched several movies in which she has starred. My favorite was her role in Doubt. In this adaptation of John Patrick Stanley’s award-winning play, Davis gave a sublime performance. Though she was in the movie for barely 10 minutes, the way in which she inhabited that role is one of the best I have seen on the silver screen.
Years later, I now realize why that performance in Doubt moved me so much. It was not only in the way she inhabited that role, it was also in the way she matched one of the preeminent actresses of this generation, Meryl Streep. Going toe to toe with Hollywood royalty would have left many star-struck. Not Davis, however, her performance was so good that it gave her an academy award nod. To think that an actress could deliver such an outstanding performance in such a short time still boggles my mind.
But while I was awed by Davis’ on-screen deliveries, it is her life before she became an A-list actress that has captivated me even more. Born in a hut in South Carolina to a mother who was a maid and a father who was a factory worker, Davis’ was a life of poverty and dysfunction. Much of her childhood was spent on her grandmother’s farm and later in rat-infested apartments in the north, many of these apartments were condemned.
Davis also talks about being arrested with her mother during a civil rights protest and being abused for said protests. Despite these struggles, she went on to study at the Julliard School and has since won multiple awards from Tonys to Oscars.
Like so many others, she could have given up and become bitter. But she has shown much resilience, and this resilience has propelled her, not only into the ranks of the Hollywood elites, but she has also found a place in the hearts of people like me who look upon her and realize that no matter what the circumstances may be, hard work and dedication oftentimes yield success. Hence, resilience and perseverance are what she means to me.
It is this resilience, this perseverance, this dedication that I saw in her while she was acting in DOUBT. Struggle often forces one to make difficult decisions. I saw, embodied in that performance, a woman who has had to make difficult decisions. The way she emoted while conversing with Streep was quite gripping. Coupled with this was the ease with which the tears flowed from her eyes and the snot from her nose while she was going back and forth with Streep made the performance appear seamless.
In that particular situation, Davis was grappling with the question of whether or not she should turn a blind eye to her son (possibly) being molested by a priest so long as it would get him into a good high school and possibly college. Were she not so deft in delivering that performance, it could have been easy to write her off as an actress who was not up to the task. But her delivery not only solidified her place among the best. It also left me conflicted about a situation that seemed so black and white. My view was, if you suspect someone of molesting your child, bring it to the proper authorities and have it dealt with. This is because my loathing for people who hurt children is only eclipsed by those who turn a blind eye to children being hurt. Davis, a poor girl from Carolina who worked her way up the ranks of Hollywood, showed me how nuanced and complicated life can be. And that no matter what your circumstances, it is possible to achieve your goals.
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