Cinematically: A great movie...Realistically: Typical Hollywood politics

Rating: Null/10 (28 December 2000)

I would place this movie in the same category as the movie J.F.K., a very well done movie but a lot to swallow. It is obviously very biased in it's political point of view.
First, Derek is sent to prison for shooting armed burglars who have entered his property and are attempting to steal his truck. One of the burglars is standing in front of the door of Derek's house with a gun in his hand while another one uses a tire iron to smash the window of his truck and Derek shoots them. The director's intent was obviously to imply that he was wrong to shoot these dangerous armed criminals. Is it me or are there other people out who would have shot them as well? Perhaps he should have waited to see if they were going to use their weapons first!

Then of course he meets this wonderful, caring, selfless black man while he's in prison. Just the kind of people we all know our prisons are full of! Sort of makes you want to go to prison so you can hang with all these great guys, doesn't it? And of course when Derek finally gets out he's a changed man! Hello??? Reality check??? In the real world Derek's racial views would only have been reinforced with his prison stay.
And if that isn't enough to show the political bias of the film maker, Daniel's teacher tells Murray that the problem started way before Derek's involvement with the white supremacists, as the movie then goes to a scene with Derek's father criticizing affirmative action, implying that this politcal view alone makes him a racist!
These are just a few of the many ridiculous political holes in this film. There are many more. I almost expected to see Jesse Jackson's name in the credits as producer or director! While this film is entertaining and will definitely hold your attention, it is a typical Hollywood film attempting to preach typical Hollywood politics.