Never Abandon the Fight to Clear Your Name

Rating: 9/10 (24 October 2006)

If you avoided this film or put it on the back burner because you thought it would be standard or simply just a people-pleasing, fairly dull drama that would maybe be the kind that would be shown in school because of its cultural value, then just see it for yourself. It's incredibly well- made, it's fast-paced, brilliantly acted, and very passionate and interesting.
Standing out in the stunningly engrossing cast are Daniel Day-Lewis and Emma Thompson, who are both always wonderfully appealing, and though I'm not sure I'll ever see Day-Lewis in any performance that surpasses the magnetism and captivating charm of Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York, he wows here, conveying such a deeply felt character. Thompson, whom I just recently re-watched in Primary Colors as an entirely different character, proves herself a true chameleon, completely taking all forms of her role.
It isn't approached from the angle of structuring the story the generally most appealing way, even though it seems like it, intercutting flashbacks with the present and such. It simply follows the characters through their own arcs, and the film becomes the most interesting and engaging film I've seen in weeks. The hardships they endure, the conflicts that fall into their laps, the drama that ensues, and the prospect of justice are all just so absorbing that you have to see it to believe it. This film consumes you.