A Time To Kill - Joel Schumacher
You think this is a trial thriller. Think again. This has to be one of the most bizarre films set in a courtroom ever made.
Jake, Matthew McConaughey (Sing, The Gentlemen) is a weird lawyer. As we are slowly introduced to him and his situation we learn what he is about.
He is a good guy. He loves his family. Is friendly with his degenerate contemporary.
He is also very glass-half full. Constantly behind on his bills at the law firm. And he isn’t worried. This paints a picture of a young lawyer who is keen to see justice done.
You would be mistaken. He doesn’t believe in the law. Not as it is. He believes in what he would make it.
He sees his role in changing the law as his mentor, Lucien, Donald Sutherland (Fallen, Kelly’s Heroes), puts it, “win the battles one case at a time” (sic).
Jake gives Ellen, Sandra Bullock (Gravity, The Blind Side), a lecture on how he doesn’t believe in rehabilitation. I do bring a lot of personal bias to this argument.
I just wanted to flag that I think that if we as a society do not believe that a person can be rehabilitated then the legal system is pointless. It becomes an arm of retribution. Interested in dealing out revenge only.
The U.S. legal system is based on rehabilitation. The place of the death penalty in that system is somewhat contrary to this basis.
If Jake does not believe in rehabilitation I do not understand why he is a lawyer.
The basis of the system that he is so passionate about is one of rehabilitation yet he doesn’t believe in it. Doesn’t make any sense to me.
The way the story is told is so basic on the surface but is much more complex when you dig a little deeper. The basic plot is: a black girl gets raped by two racist rednecks.
The girl’s father takes the law into his own hands and kills them both because he doesn’t believe the legal system will deal with them appropriately.
We then see the trial of the father. Underneath this story are racial tensions. Pressure from racial groups over the case.
Both the Ku Klux Klan and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People make an appearance.
The impact and attempt at the influence that both these groups have are also complex. Both are out for themselves and simply want to use the case to their advantage.
Carl Lee, Samuel L. Jackson (Django Unchained, The Avengers), plays the NAACP and his pastor as their proxy to get money for his family. An inside man in the KKK tips off the Klan’s targets and saves their lives.
I guess the point here and throughout the rest of the complexity of the characters is that nothing is as simple as it seems.
Jake green light’s the murder when Carl Lee comes to him right before he does it. Jake tries to convince himself that he didn’t think Carl Lee would do it.
Only at the end when Jake gives his final brilliant speech to the jury do we realise that he is just as racist as the rest of them. He wins the case because of it.
Carl Lee knows it from the start which is why he chooses Jake as his lawyer AND why I think that he sets Jake up to be in on the crime.
Kevin Spacey (Moon, The Usual Suspects) plays sleazy D.A. with aplomb. He breaks the rules and doesn’t care.
He tears Jake’s case to pieces and relishes the humiliation. It was odd to see Keifer Sutherland playing alongside his dad here. It is a small part, but I found it a bit odd.
I was perplexed by Jake’s wife’s behavior throughout. She runs away to her mother’s when the threats to them become intense – fine.
But the reason that she gives for coming back is that she finally could imagine Jake reacting the way Carl Lee did if their daughter was the one who was raped. We can empathize with Carl Lee.
The audience’s ability to empathize with Carl Lee is what makes this story viable in the first place.
If we didn’t we would want him to lose and the whole court case would be a boring and frustrating wait for the gas chamber. Placing Jake’s wife at odds with this makes her look like an idiot – a bizarre decision.
Carl Lee’s speech at the end that leads to Jake’s speech is just brilliant. Spectacular stuff. Great writing great performances.
