Today on the radio I was listening to an interview featuring 52 year old Dewey Bozella, who after 26 years of serving time in prison for a murder he did not commit, will finally get his chance at his lifelong dream, to fight a professional boxing match. It is a pretty remarkable story that will undoubtedly be made into a movie. It is also the story of everybody's fear of the justice system, being wrongly accused, tried, and imprisoned.
Presumed Innocent is a smart and suspenseful courtroom drama that examines this idea. A young woman lawyer is brutally murdered at her home. Her co-worker Rusty Sabich (Harrison Ford), the office's leading prosecutor, leads the investigation to find the culprit, only all the evidence seems to point to himself. His fingerprints are inexplicably found on a glass in her apartment, fibers from his home at hers, and his same blood type and semen all there. Phone records show his house calling hers that very night and, oh by the way, he had an affair with her that he hasn't gotten over with after she ended it. Open and shut case, right? Except that we don't know if he has actually done it. The story is told entirely through Rusty's perspective and he is awfully convincing as a man who swears he didn't do it.
The irony of the fact that Rusty, who has prosecuted criminals his whole life, is now the accused shouldn't be lost on anybody. He dryly comments, "I'll need a lawyer." But he makes a good defendant because he knows how the other side will play it. I particularly enjoyed the scene where Rusty practices with his lawyer by presenting the arguments against himself as if he were prosecuting the case. He is equally as convincing in that scene as he is in proclaiming his innocence.
The film is a surprisingly emotionally complex one. Despite the affair ending ages ago, Rusty has not been able to get over with it. He weeps openly in front of his wife while working on the case. It is particularly painful for his wife, who knows about the affair, and must hear about it again during the trial. But she does her best Hilary Clinton impression and sticks by Rusty's side through thick and thin.
The last half of the film plays out as a courtroom procedural and as someone who used to watch Law and Order quite frequently, I enjoyed watching the proceedings.
Grade: B+
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