Rating:  

Pantheon Entertainment Corporation, Oceana Media Finance, Innocence Productions, Longfellow Pictures, Prescience Films, and Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Written by: Pamela Gray.

Born in the late 1950′s, Betty Anne Waters and her older brother, Kenny, were incredibly close throughout their life together. Raised in less than enviable circumstances by a single mother who had 9 children with 7 different men, Betty Anne and Kenny were inseparable. Kenny evolved into a well-known and rather annoying troublemaker with a bit of an arrogant, devil-could-care attitude and Betty Anne was always there for him and in his corner. Their bond was in some ways all they had.

Jumping ahead to 1980, Betty Anne is married and looking to start a family. Kenny has a daughter with his girlfriend Brenda, but still gives into a little drinking and drugging here and there. For both of them, however, life is stable. And then a woman named Katharina Brow is found murdered in her mobile home. Stabbed more than 30 times and the victim of a severe cranial injury, Brow’s murder rocked and stunned the small community of Ayer, Massachusetts. Police officer Nancy Taylor-Harris’ investigation places her on Kenny’s doorstep, with Kenny someone she has encountered often with his previous dalliances with the law. After interrogations of Brenda and an additional former girlfriend seem to put Kenny at the heart of the murder, he is arrested and in 1983, convicted of the murder of Katharina Brow. With Kenny’s appeal denied, he is sentenced to life in prison and for many in the community and the Brow family, the matter, at least in the legal sense, is closed.

Betty Anne is not convinced of Kenny’s guilt and vows to do whatever it takes to overturn his conviction. At the time of Kenny’s incarceration, Betty Anne is a mother of two and her decision to go back to school is met with resistance and anger by her husband. Ever as determined as she was in her youth, Betty Anne obtains her GED, her Bachelor’s Degree, a Masters in Education, and then a law degree. Putting herself through school, she works at a local Irish pub and meets Abra, a fellow law student who quickly becomes Betty Anne’s best friend and a tireless ally in Kenny’s case. Betty Anne uses her law degree for one purpose and one purpose only – overturn her brother’s conviction and free a wrongfully convicted man.

Take a breath with me. What a story. The journey and the sacrifice that Betty Anne, her two sons, and her brother endured is nothing short of remarkable. At the heart of “Conviction” beats love, tenacity, and resolve, as well as heartbreak, despair, confusion, and loss. As a movie, “Conviction” is good. It is well acted, well paced, engaging theater. And for a lot of films that would suffice. But not this one and not in telling this story. Here, let me explain.

I do like “Conviction”, I really do. Hilary Swank’s performance as Betty Anne is soaked in steely resolve and determination. Sam Rockwell’s performance as Kenny only offers another exhibit in the argument that Rockwell is one of the finest actors working today. Rockwell plays Kenny as a dangerous and combustible personality, never over-the-top, and always believable in his scattershot personality shifts and heightened despair behind bars. Minnie Driver returns to form with a nice turn as Betty Anne’s friend, Abra. And in a film of great acting, two scenes featuring Juliette Lewis as Kenny’s ex-girlfriend, whose testimony may have sealed his fate, stops the movie in its tracks and provides staggering moments of emotion and power the movie is constantly searching for.

But in a tale of redemptive justice, you need more than just good acting to sell the story. For much of “Conviction”, director Tony Goldwyn moves the film along in a most measured and precise manner, ratcheting up tension and emotion palpable to that of a really engrossing Sunday night Made-for-TV movie. Again, think of the true story this movie is depicting. If ever a film needed more intensity in the courtroom, stout legal drama, and more of a mystery and investigatory tone, this is the film. Instead of observing the struggle, the pain, the suffocation of circumstances, I wanted to feel it with these characters. When Betty Anne’s sons casually toss out that their mother has sacrificed her whole life, I want to dwell in that emotion and not have her question the comment and have them blow the matter off as no big deal. Everything these characters experience is a big deal. So, why not let us in? Why play this all so close to the vest and so conventional and safe? Let us get in the law library, look at the pictures, stay up countless hours every night, put the case together, and be involved. I really never felt what I think I was supposed to because of being relegated to the outsider’s point of view. There is so much captivating material here that we cannot take part in, that the movie never realizes what it can and/or should be.

“Conviction” may misjudge the power of its own story, and lack its own conviction of trusting its audience, but in finality, it is still a film that you will likely watch and enjoy. You’ll undoubtedly wish for more, but much like Betty Anne Waters, the film’s heart is in the right place.

Should I See It?

More often than not, the legal drama is good cinema and “Conviction” will earn your focus with the amazing elements of its story.

Top to bottom the acting is really strong and for fans of effective dramatic acting performances, there is plenty to appreciate; especially Juliette Lewis’ 5 minutes on screen.

For some, the measured and careful approach will be appreciated and the many questions the film raises, both intentionally and unintentionally, will make you think about the Waters’ story for the days following.

For many, this movie will become frustrating and its lack of engagement with the viewer will make some people not care at all about the story and significance of the subject matter.

The entire time, I kept wondering why the Brow family’s perspective was left out of the narrative. What were they thinking during the 20+ years that this entire process unfolded? Save a pre-final credits mention, there absence is deafening.

So much is skirted over that it may be hard to make an emotional connection with any of this.