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| The stage of justice |
by Tom Snyder
Assistant Editor |
The cold and windy months that begin every New Year are dead months for movie lovers. Studios have already showcased their Oscar hopefuls, taking out ads and crossing their sweaty fingers in hopes of gold come March, and the films beginning to enter theaters are, to put it nicely, leftovers.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s “The Beach” was scheduled for a December release (the final month for Oscar consideration), but was pushed back to mid-February (never a good sign), and I find it extremely difficult to haul myself into a theater to sit through “Scream 3” or “Eye of the Beholder,” so, what is a filmaholic to do? Hit the video store shelves of course.
With Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan’s decision to suspend the death penalty fresh in my mind, the title, “Dead Man Walking,” was rolling around my brain until I took a wrong turn and found myself in the documentary section of my local video store. I normally avoid this area, but on this occasion I took a look.
The title of the masterpiece I was about to rent was the first thing that caught my eye; it was so similar to a favorite film of mine, “The Thin Red Line,” that I could not resist picking it up. Its title: “The Thin Blue Line.”
Investigated and directed by Errol Morris, “The Thin Blue Line” is an astounding, anger-creating testament of the pathetic and failing state of the U.S. Justice System. It is the story of a man who ran out of gas, and how that simple event changed his life forever. It is the true story of a dead police officer and a desperate, illegal attempt to convict a man, innocent or not.
During what was supposed to be a routine traffic stop on a warm winter night in 1976, Dallas Police Officer Robert Wood was shot and killed by a man in a blue car. Evidence pointed to David Harris, then only 16 years old, as the shooter, but Harris claimed that a hitchhiker did it. Even though Harris possessed the motive--the car he was driving was stolen, as was the gun that was used (which he admitted was his)--police believed that the guilty man was a drifter whom Harris claimed that he had picked up hours before the shooting.
Harris, who had even confessed the killing to friends, was released while the “drifter,” Randall Adams (over 18 and eligible for the death penalty), was booked and prosecuted. With the entire case hinging on the shaky testimony of three eyewitnesses, who saw the shooting from a distance, Randall Adams was convicted and sentenced to die.
Flowing through in-person interviews with key witnesses, lawyers, police investigators, and even Harris and Adams, “The Thin Blue Line” does not grandstand or even argue one side or the other. Morris masterfully allows each participating party to tell their story and, in doing so, allows the criminal justice system to make a fool of itself. Aided by a moving musical score composed by Philip Glass and simple yet effective re-enactments, photographs and video footage, Morris’ noble labor to attain the truth incredibly captures just that.
Several questions come to mind after watching “The Thin Blue Line;” important questions concerning the word “inadmissible,” the personal motives, prejudices, and politics of police investigators and the part that they play in the search for justice, and the rationale of jurors.
Honestly, how much of a stage has the court of justice become? How many crucial decisions ultimately come down to the emotional, rather that the material? How many closing arguments have left guilty men walk and placed the innocent behind bars?
It seems to me that important things like “truth” and “justice” have been lost in the race for revenge. With prosecutors striving for perfect win/loss records, the media inflating attention and pre-conceptions of guilt long before trials, and backroom deals to drop charges in exchange for testimony being made constantly in the American Justice System, it’s no wonder that movies are being made about such men as Rubin Carter (“The Hurricane”) and Randall Adams.
Simple yet profound, obscure yet worth the time to track down, “The Thin Blue Line” is one of the most important films you will ever see. It contains one of the most shocking endings to a movie. A masterpiece of investigative reporting, “The Thin Blue Line” should be mandatory viewing in every high school in this land where “innocent until proven guilty” supposedly still applies. |
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