In praise of Den-zel

His Christian name is only two syllables, with the stress (following the African-American pronunciation) on the second. Two syllables that are a byword for urbane cool. A mellifluous shibboleth – the quintessence of all that is decent and upstanding. You see, I’ve grown up on Denzel’s films. From boyhood to manhood, from teenage recalcitrance to adult responsibility, he has accompanied me on my life’s journey like a Virgil to my wayfaring Dante. As father figure, older brother, man of probity and moral rectitude, Don Juan and all round Mister Nice Guy, he has been my consummate companion. Many men of a certain age will have derived much of their moral compass from Denzel’s protagonists. Where Eddie Murphy garrulously played out our sexual fantasies, Denzel offered the righteous, dignified and principled heroic man we all yearn to be. His acting prowess aside, how has Denzel consistently been such a massive box-office hit with both black and white audiences in a country as racially polarized as America? Well, to start with, he makes really good movies.