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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.cinema-l
Date:         Thu, 27 Aug 1992 17:37:00 +0200
From:         "FINTAN AYLWARD EXT.1231" <eei.eeifad@MEMO.ERICSSON.SE>
Subject:      Law and order
X-To:         cinema-l@american.edu

One of the best films ever set in a courtroom I believe is 12
Angry men...In reply to Ellen the film about the last person
in Britan to be hanged is called Let 'em have it.

Hi
  In reply to Stephen Jackson request for a list of movie titles
about the treatment of Law/Justice in the movies I would like to
ask peoples opinion about the handling of the subject in the
movies. It is commonplace for about a dozen movies per year to
deal with the hastles of courtroom life. Some directors handle
the topic well (e.g And Justice for All.....). Done well it can
produce drama at it's best. Done badly it produces bland boring
stereotype movies.
   What I believe, and perhaps it cant be done, is that there has
been a failure by directors to question the validity of the legal
system. I don't mean movies that depict the injustices of a
particular trial whereby the inocent are imprisoned  or where
the guilty get free. I wonder are there any movies out there that
question the validity of judgement of one person on another. A
history of the movies have tended to highlight the struggle of
Good and Evil, the treatment of the legal system invariably is
used to show that Good get rewarded and the evil get punished or
sometimes the other way arround. In JFK for example the courtroom
is used as a soapbox for O. Stone to give his theory on the
killingof JFK. But is it failure of many directors / film
producers that they have use the courtrooms to give an opinion
about a particular Law or aspect of society without questioning
the vality of the courtroom itself. Perhaps it is people's fear
of the legal system that has led to this. Society is invariably
fearful of the Law without ever really questioning it existance
and this has shown through in films. One of the best treatments
of rape in recent years was done in Thelma and Louise whereby the
rapist gets shot by Thelma because he probably would not have got
punished for his attempted crime. While most viewer was for the
most part shocked by her action, it was generally seen as
justified given the treatment of rape by the legal system.
Thelma's actions was far more a statement on how people believe
rapist should be treated than any trial scene where even if a
rapist is punished, Justice is not seen to be done? In the
Accused while we are glad that the guilty is found guilty do we
feel that Justice has been done.
    I would like to finish by asking people's opinion on the
treatment of Law in the movies. Does anybody out there agree that
while many film deal directly with the treatment of Law and order
no film to sucessfully deals with the topic of the validity of
society to judge another person and no film-maker has suggested
an alternitive to the courtroom system. The closest I've seen is
Errol Morris's The Thin Blue Line where the facts of a particular
case are placed before the viewer. While the director obviously
manipulates the viewer, the power of the directors case is so
strong we are probably left with no alternitive but to agree with
the director's hypothesis. Since Justice is most often not got
in the courtroom can any filmmaker deal with Justice in an
alternitive manner? Maaybe they have already? Let me Know$$$
                                              Fintan
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