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The Human Stain is perhaps one of the oddest plots I've come across in a while. It begins in the present, then jumps back and forth between a recent past and an old past belonging to the character of Coleman Silk, played by Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins' younger self, played by Wentworth Miller, looks only slightly like him in the eyes and a different accent as well.

Silk is fired from his job as a literature professor for saying something that could be construed as a racial slur. This is in the late nineties, when political correctness' overuse was rearing its ugly head. Coleman could have saved his job by revealing his own heritage, but says nothing because he has lived his entire life without revealing the secrets of his past. His wife dies of a heart attack when she hears the news of his unemployment, so he soon finds himself alone, jobless, and befriending a young author played by Gary Senise, as well as dating a much younger woman with a lot of emotional issues who happens to be a janitor at his college, played by Nicole Kidman (also using an accent that sounds odd coming out of her). Her past reveals a big secret she's been keeping and an evil ex-husband.

This movie is filled with issues of emotion, race, intimacy, family, friendships, relationships, and trust. When I think about it, the whole things seems a bit contrived and weird... yet somehow, I liked it. Even though it seems insane that the professor would give a ride to the girl and she'd instantly offer him a sexual relationship, and even though Ed Harris' character is strange, and even though I'm not sure I buy Nicole Kidman's character, somehow it all came together and made me think a bit on some of the issues being raised.

Coleman Silk is a person I can identify with slightly, because he faces the issue of his heritage, thinking about how it will affect his career and his future. While I don't have to worry about racial discrimination like he might have, I understand what it's like to look at a list of races and debate checking the box next to "White". On that note I found the movie interesting, and I also admired Coleman and his girlfriend's eventual falling in love with each other.