Rated R for language and some violent images
Cast: Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Minnie Driver, Melissa Leo, Peter Gallagher, Ari Graynor, Loren Dean, Conor Donovan, Owen Campbell, Tobias Campbell, Bailee Madison, Clea Duvall, Karen Young, Talia Balsam, John Pyper-Ferguson, Juliette Lewis
Director: Tony Goldwyn
NOTE: The following review may contain spoilers for those who aren't familiar with the true story of Betty Anne Waters.
NOTE: The following review may contain spoilers for those who aren't familiar with the true story of Betty Anne Waters.
One of the tragedies of the human condition is the almost seductive tendency to deny oneself peace and contentment. It's all too easy for an individual to convince themselves they're not worthy, especially if they come from a broken home.
"Conviction" tells the true story of Betty Anne Waters, a single mother who put herself through law school for no other reason than to represent her listless brother... a man convicted of a crime he didn't commit. But it's also about how Betty Anne's endeavor helped to expand the potential for meaning in a life that until then offered little in the way of hope.
Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) and her brother Kenny (Sam Rockwell) grew up under dire circumstances. Neglected by their mother (Karen Young), they took solace in the comfort of each other's company. True, they would never have been mistaken for well-behaved adolescents, but they loved one another without reservation. One of their favorite pastimes as children, we're shown, was to break into homes... not to steal, but to imagine a life better than the one bestowed upon them.
Cut to years later. Betty Anne has just become engaged and works as a waitress. Kenny is already married and has a little girl. Neither one has the most glowing reputation in the town of Ayer, Massachusetts. Yet Betty Anne appears to be building some semblance of structure in her life. Kenny, meanwhile, is known primarily as the town hellraiser.
A murder is committed. Katharina Brow has been stabbed and brutally beaten to death in her home. Signs point to Kenny as a potential person of interest. Investigating officer Nancy Taylor (Melissa Leo) arrives at Kenny's residence. He may not have been guilty but he sure was reckless. Without an understanding of the possible charges that could be levied against him, he responds to Taylor's request for questioning in an unwise manner. ("Easy there, Angie Dickenson.") He is taken in for questioning, but later released. Two years pass. One day out of the blue, he is again taken into custody and officially charged with the crime. His response is unsettlingly cryptic. ("You guys let me off for that two years ago!")
He is convicted, sent to prison for life. Upon learning of Kenny's suicide attempt in jail, Betty Anne sets about studying the law and the specifics of her brother's case. With the help of an eager schoolmate (Minnie Driver) and ultimately the assistance of the Innocence Project led by famed lawyer Barry Scheck (Peter Gallagher) she overcomes a plethora of obstacles to win Kenny's freedom.
The film is better than the tv-movie-of-the-week description makes it sound. Screenwriter Pamela Gray skillfully weaves the siblings' childhood emotional neglect with Betty Anne's ultimate need to offer hope to her despondent brother. It's interesting how she somewhat backs into her decision to enter law school. Consider the scene where she first informs Kenny of her intentions. She tells him, "it may take eighty years and even then I might not have the answer." An intriguing approach to the conversation; it invites the notion that she herself doesn't believe she can accomplish it, but needs to find some way to ingest even the most embryonic molecule of hope into Kenny's predicament. There's no courtroom grandstanding here. Gray has smartly taken a grassroots approach to the script.
The story lends itself to big screen adaptation, and director Tony Goldwyn knows it. He has a confident, laid back approach to the material, allowing it to unfold through the power of the central performances. An actor himself (he was Patrick Swayze's double-dealing best friend in "Ghost" and most recently the antagonist in "The Mechanic") he wisely places the fate of the story in the hands of his actors, rather than attempting to marry the performances to an unnecessarily distinct visual style.
Swank seems to gravitate toward these kinds of roles. They have won her two Oscars, although the dice don't always come up sevens. ("Amelia", anyone?) What impresses me, however, is that she tackles roles that could easily slip into a cacophony of over-the-top, grandiloquent speeches about injustice, yet she consistently resists the temptation to do so. She portrays Betty Anne as a tireless, dedicated, loving sister... but a curiously non-confrontational one. Her goal isn't just to free Kenny from prison, but to free him from the mental pain inflicted as a result. Playing a polar opposite personality, Sam Rockwell matches her performance step-for-step. He imbues Kenny with a cynicism that works like legal quicksand to his dilemma. There's no condoning what officer Nancy Taylor did, but Kenny really helped make himself a target. (In a cruel twist-of-fate, Kenny died after falling from a wall while taking a short cut en route to a Chinese restaurant a mere six months following his release.)
At one point in the story, Betty Anne's two sons debate whether they'd be willing to sacrifice their lives in attempting to rescue the other from a predicament like the one faced by their uncle. "You think I sacrificed my life?" she asks earnestly. By the end of the movie we learn she did the opposite. Not only because she was successful in earning Kenny's freedom, but her quest threw open a whole new chapter in her life. (She now works for the Innocence Project.) Her efforts netted her two prizes... her brother's freedom and the notion that those dreams of a better life were, in fact, possible after all.
* * * out of * * * * stars
"Conviction" tells the true story of Betty Anne Waters, a single mother who put herself through law school for no other reason than to represent her listless brother... a man convicted of a crime he didn't commit. But it's also about how Betty Anne's endeavor helped to expand the potential for meaning in a life that until then offered little in the way of hope.
Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) and her brother Kenny (Sam Rockwell) grew up under dire circumstances. Neglected by their mother (Karen Young), they took solace in the comfort of each other's company. True, they would never have been mistaken for well-behaved adolescents, but they loved one another without reservation. One of their favorite pastimes as children, we're shown, was to break into homes... not to steal, but to imagine a life better than the one bestowed upon them.
Cut to years later. Betty Anne has just become engaged and works as a waitress. Kenny is already married and has a little girl. Neither one has the most glowing reputation in the town of Ayer, Massachusetts. Yet Betty Anne appears to be building some semblance of structure in her life. Kenny, meanwhile, is known primarily as the town hellraiser.
A murder is committed. Katharina Brow has been stabbed and brutally beaten to death in her home. Signs point to Kenny as a potential person of interest. Investigating officer Nancy Taylor (Melissa Leo) arrives at Kenny's residence. He may not have been guilty but he sure was reckless. Without an understanding of the possible charges that could be levied against him, he responds to Taylor's request for questioning in an unwise manner. ("Easy there, Angie Dickenson.") He is taken in for questioning, but later released. Two years pass. One day out of the blue, he is again taken into custody and officially charged with the crime. His response is unsettlingly cryptic. ("You guys let me off for that two years ago!")
He is convicted, sent to prison for life. Upon learning of Kenny's suicide attempt in jail, Betty Anne sets about studying the law and the specifics of her brother's case. With the help of an eager schoolmate (Minnie Driver) and ultimately the assistance of the Innocence Project led by famed lawyer Barry Scheck (Peter Gallagher) she overcomes a plethora of obstacles to win Kenny's freedom.
The film is better than the tv-movie-of-the-week description makes it sound. Screenwriter Pamela Gray skillfully weaves the siblings' childhood emotional neglect with Betty Anne's ultimate need to offer hope to her despondent brother. It's interesting how she somewhat backs into her decision to enter law school. Consider the scene where she first informs Kenny of her intentions. She tells him, "it may take eighty years and even then I might not have the answer." An intriguing approach to the conversation; it invites the notion that she herself doesn't believe she can accomplish it, but needs to find some way to ingest even the most embryonic molecule of hope into Kenny's predicament. There's no courtroom grandstanding here. Gray has smartly taken a grassroots approach to the script.
The story lends itself to big screen adaptation, and director Tony Goldwyn knows it. He has a confident, laid back approach to the material, allowing it to unfold through the power of the central performances. An actor himself (he was Patrick Swayze's double-dealing best friend in "Ghost" and most recently the antagonist in "The Mechanic") he wisely places the fate of the story in the hands of his actors, rather than attempting to marry the performances to an unnecessarily distinct visual style.
Swank seems to gravitate toward these kinds of roles. They have won her two Oscars, although the dice don't always come up sevens. ("Amelia", anyone?) What impresses me, however, is that she tackles roles that could easily slip into a cacophony of over-the-top, grandiloquent speeches about injustice, yet she consistently resists the temptation to do so. She portrays Betty Anne as a tireless, dedicated, loving sister... but a curiously non-confrontational one. Her goal isn't just to free Kenny from prison, but to free him from the mental pain inflicted as a result. Playing a polar opposite personality, Sam Rockwell matches her performance step-for-step. He imbues Kenny with a cynicism that works like legal quicksand to his dilemma. There's no condoning what officer Nancy Taylor did, but Kenny really helped make himself a target. (In a cruel twist-of-fate, Kenny died after falling from a wall while taking a short cut en route to a Chinese restaurant a mere six months following his release.)
At one point in the story, Betty Anne's two sons debate whether they'd be willing to sacrifice their lives in attempting to rescue the other from a predicament like the one faced by their uncle. "You think I sacrificed my life?" she asks earnestly. By the end of the movie we learn she did the opposite. Not only because she was successful in earning Kenny's freedom, but her quest threw open a whole new chapter in her life. (She now works for the Innocence Project.) Her efforts netted her two prizes... her brother's freedom and the notion that those dreams of a better life were, in fact, possible after all.
* * * out of * * * * stars
