MOVIE REVIEW : A Lesson in Comradeship

Set in mid-’60s Germany, “Cadence” (citywide) is a nicely offbeat story of a rebellious private, Franklin Bean (Charlie Sheen), who learns about comradeship and the deep roots of bigotry in a military work-camp stockade where he’s been tossed.

The stockade commander, Sgt. Otis McKinney (Martin Sheen, who also directed), is almost incandescent in his prejudice against “Negroes,” and he hopes there’ll be trouble when he adds Bean to the all-black barracks of prisoners. Bean himself takes things very, very cautiously, taking a bunk at the far end from his five stockade-mates, headed by Stokes (Larry Fishburne).

But, in the film’s most satisfying developments, Bean, the white-bread Montana kid, and this collection of mostly city and street-wise fellow-prisoners slowly become a working unit--inflaming the sergeant even more. And as Bean learns more about the “crimes” that got most of the other men in here, he gets a broader picture of the world as it is than life in a tiny town in Montana may ever have shown him.

In every instance of cliche, Dennis Shryack’s screenplay, adapted from Gordon Weaver’s novel “Count a Lonely Cadence,” shies in another direction, like a skipping stone whose bounces can’t quite be predicted. Black man, white man, basketball game. Who’s going to win? Nice surprises here. (And great razzing from the sidelines.) White man, black men in precision step. How quickly does the out-of-step soldier fall right into the “Soul Patrol”? That’s one of the film’s brisk surprises too.

As Bean decides that he will test McKinney’s authority, in matters that go quite beyond regulations, the duel between both sides is set in motion. (The film is rated PG-13 for language, violence.)

Martin Sheen, in his directing debut, shows enormous empathy for his actors, each of whom emerges as a fully rounded character. This is Larry Fishburne week, since he’s also outstanding in “Class Action.” (See review, F4.) He’s an actor in whom sweetness and strength seem evenly matched.

Michael Beach, as the pro boxer who is initially Bean’s adversary, stands out, as does James Marshall as Lamar, the corporal with guts enough to stand up to McKinney. As Harry (Sweetbread) Crane, the musically talented prisoner, Harry Stewart is beatifically fine. A third member of the Sheen family, Ramon Estevez, is the quintessentially weaselly Corporal of the Guard.

Fresh as these and other performances are, director Sheen has a heavy hand with technical matters, with flashbacks, slow motion and close-ups in moments of anguish. However, there’s enough here in the way of story surprises, an unforced flow to the dialogue and performances, that may make audiences more forgiving.