Fact-based 'Trial by Jury' offers cautionary tale about justice system
“Trial by Fire” - ★ ★ ½
British actor Jack O'Connell makes no concessions when playing a man charged with burning his three little daughters to death in Edward Zwick's fact-based drama “Trial by Fire.”
O'Connell never pitches for our sympathy, in fact, the opposite. He wants us to believe the worst about his character, Cameron Todd Willingham, an unemployed drug-abusing troublemaker with a history of violence, even against his young wife Stacy (Emily Meade).
Stacy testifies in court there is no way her husband would kill their daughters. He adored them.
We can't be sure. O'Connell never allows us easy reasons to think him capable of kindness, that he might be innocent.
His slow and reluctant character arc forms the nucleus of “Trial by Fire.” It even lifts Zwick's generic storytelling into something specific, if not memorable.
Granted, “Trial by Fire” might qualify as a conventional, bleeding-heart liberal, anti-capital-punishment polemic about how unfair the judicial system can be to those unable to afford good legal representation.
A strong case can be made for that.
“Trial by Fire” does something else, too.
It inadvertently (or vertently) offers a zeitgeisty cautionary reminder about the importance of accurate and verified information in a strong, free democracy to prevent its foundation from slowly being eroded by “alternate facts,” rumors, speculation and political cover-ups.
Part of that strong, free democracy includes just and fair trials for all citizens, the real target of Zwick's impassioned drama.
In the film's stunning opening scene, set shortly before Christmas in 1991, a young woman looks out her door to see the house across the street explode in flames. She watches as a desperate man dashes out of the house, moves his car to safety, then tries to re-enter the burning building, but the intense heat pushes him back.
Three little girls die in that fire.
Willingham barely buries his children when authorities charge him with murder and arson. Investigators find the telltale signs of arson in the children's bedroom, even traces of the accelerant at the front door.
Outside of claiming his innocence, Willingham can muster a defense.
His uncaring public defender certainly doesn't.
After a Texas judge sentences Willingham to be executed by injection, the story — written by “Precious” screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher, based on a 2009 New Yorker article by David Grann — takes a dramatic jump seven years later to introduce Elizabeth Gilbert (Laura Dern), a social justice do-gooder and single mom dealing with her dying ex-husband (Jeff Perry).
After exchanging letters with Willingham, Gilbert looks into his case and uncovers a horror story of investigative incompetence, altered testimonies, suppressed evidence and plain old lies.
Can she get the attention of the Texas governor in time to set right the scales of justice?
Zwick has always been more of a functional filmmaker than an inspirational one.
It's disappointing that “Trial by Fire” didn't veer into more investigative reporting and explain more details, such as why it took so long (12 years) for Willingham's execution to be set.
In the end, “Trial by Fire” comes off as a thinner, mediocre version of another fact-based death-row drama, “Dead Man Walking.”
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Starring: Jack O'Connell, Laura Dern, Emily Meade, Jeff Perry
Directed by: Edward Zwick
Other: A Roadside Attractions release. Rated R for language, nudity, sexual situations, violence. 127 minutes