Fences is a 2016 American period drama film directed and co-produced by Denzel Washington from a screenplay by August Wilson, based on his 1985 play.

It stars Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson, and Saniyya Sidney.

The film earned four nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor (for Washington), and Best Adapted Screenplay (for Wilson), at the 89th Academy Awards, with Davis winning Best Supporting Actress.

In 1950s Pittsburgh, Troy Maxson lives in a modest house with his wife, Rose, and their teenage son, Cory.

A gifted storyteller, Troy claims to have survived near-fatal pneumonia as a young man by defeating Death in a wrestling match.

After complaining about his company's racist employment practices, Troy is promoted to a garbage truck driver, becoming the first African-American to do so in Pittsburgh.

Bono suspects that Troy is cheating on Rose with Alberta, a woman he met at Taylor's bar, and encourages him to break it off.

He brings the baby, Raynell, home, and Rose agrees to raise the girl as her own, but refuses to accept Troy back into her life.

Lyons is serving time in prison for forgery, but gets a furlough to attend the funeral, and Gabriel is released from the hospital as well.

[3] Previous attempts to adapt Fences for the screen had been fruitless, partly due to Wilson's insistence on an African-American director.

[4] In a 2013 interview with Empire, Denzel Washington expressed his intention to star in and direct an adaptation of Fences, reprising his Tony Award-winning performance from the 2010 Broadway revival of the play, which was produced by Scott Rudin.

[23] In the United States, the Motion Picture Association rated the film PG-13 "for thematic elements, language and some suggestive references".

The website's consensus reads: "From its reunited Broadway stars to its screenplay, the solidly crafted Fences finds its Pulitzer-winning source material fundamentally unchanged — and still just as powerful.

"[31] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 79 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

[33] A. O. Scott of The New York Times stated, "But even as it properly foregrounds Wilson's dialogue — few playwrights have approached his genius for turning workaday vernacular into poetry — Fences is much more than a filmed reading.

"[34] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times highlighted Davis' performance, commenting that "When the camera is on her no one will be wanting to look elsewhere.

"[35] Ty Burr of The Boston Globe wrote, "You don't get groundbreaking cinema from Fences, but what you do get – two titanic performances and an immeasurable American drama – makes up for that.