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August Wilson's "Fences" is one of the classics in the modern theatrical canon, and Denzel Washington gives it the movie adaptation it deserves — a sensitive, powerful rendition in which he (as director and star) and Viola Davis bring roaring to full-throated vibrancy.

It's the 1950s in a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, and Troy Maxson (Washington) has just gotten paid for the week in his job as a garbage man. The money keeps a roof over his family's heads, but just enough to get by. When Lyons (Russell Hornsby), a jazz musician and Troy's son from an earlier marriage, comes by to borrow $10, it's enough of an issue to cause an argument between father and son — until Troy's wife, Rose (Davis), intervenes to keep the peace.

Troy sits in the backyard on a Friday evening, shooting the breeze with his co-worker and best friend, Jim Bono (Stephen McKinely Henderson). Mostly Troy grouses about the raw deal he's received in life. He played baseball in the Negro Leagues before the war — and, he contends, he would have been as great as any of the white players in the majors. If only, if only.

Because of that disappointment, Troy is hard on his teen son, Cory (Jovan Adepo), standing in the son's way when he wants to play football. Cory is good enough to get a college scholarship, but Troy tells him he needs to give up sports — to avoid the discrimination Troy faced. The argument leads to a fracture in the family that can never be healed.

There are other characters with influence on the Maxson family's fate. One is Troy's brother Gabriel (Mykelti Williamson), his brain damaged in the war, his disability money keeping Troy and Rose afloat. The other is a woman, never seen but integral to the story's third act.

Washington doesn't do a lot to expand the physical scope of Wilson's play. The back porch where much of the action takes place — and where Troy is building a fence that gives the story its title and its central metaphor — could fit nicely on any theater stage. The other locations (Washington filmed the movie in Pittsburgh) give the movie a sense of neighborhood grit, but don't distract from Wilson's lucid dialogue and troubled characters. (Wilson, who died in 2005, retains sole screenwriting credit.)

"Fences" is an actor's story, and Washington and Davis — who each won Tony Awards in the play's 2010 Broadway revival — know it inside and out. They draw the best from each other, even as their characters are doing their worst.

Washington brings a ferocious strength to Troy's hard exterior, then neatly undercuts it with the fear and doubt of a man so beaten down by others that he often sabotages himself. Davis matches Washington's firepower, first by showing Rose's calm understanding to balance Troy's bluster, and later demonstrating — in one fateful decision — who's truly in charge in this house.

"Fences" is a stirring chronicle of a family struggling with pressures within and without. Wilson's commentary on race — and how the indignities suffered because of skin color turned, for Troy at least, into festering self-loathing — remains, sadly, as potent as ever.

Twitter: @moviecricket —

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'Fences'

Denzel Washington gives August Wilson's masterpiece about a fractured family a powerful, thoughtful movie adaptation.

Where • Theaters everywhere.

When • Opens Sunday, Dec. 25.

Rating • PG-13 for thematic elements, language and some suggestive references.

Running time • 138 minutes.