This is "Law and Order" meets "The Waltons", on steroids. There are more false leads here than answers when Katie (Mariska Hargitay) plays a corporate attorney who is fast approaching 40 and wondering why she helps to vindicate Corporations. She wins and saves them great sums, but questions why. What happened to her idealism? So, Katie decides to take a break - but ends up with a murder trial instead.
And when her defendant turns out to be an 18 year old Amish girl(Alison Pill) accused of murdering her own new born child, the plot becomes magnetic. When she refuses to provide the answers that only she can provide to save herself, the race is on for the defense to find the truth.
At first this film seems to be just another re-make of "Witness" with Harrison Ford, but it is much more. It touches upon subjects of real sensitivity; such as religion, education and even our own subjectation to systems that may not be true to our own real values. There is always a price to be paid. Always a compromise with the truth.
As Katie learns, in a surprise twist ending, there is no real difference in the corporate will to survive than our own as individuals. In the end she is left wondering just why she took that time off to begin with?
Written and Directed seamlessly, this movie had me in my seat the entire time. I never hit pause. And that's rare. Just ask Sue! The Cinematography is wonderful, with panoramic views of the Amish countryside. Released in 2004, this is yet another one that seems to have slipped by me.
No comments:
Post a Comment