We Need A Good Courthouse Drama With All The Hard Lessons About “Truth”

We need a really good courtroom drama.

Not Johnny Depp-Amber Heard, where everything is chaotic and the result is less important than the job.

Rather, it’s the melodrama of an old-fashioned, high-stakes, story-laden film that forces the viewer to look back and forth while reality is in an ever-changing balance. Everything bends first in one direction, then in the other. A meaningless truth turns the entire narrative. Sometimes when the verdict comes out, the winner is actually a bad guy, but we learn later, for example, anatomy of murder.

Once upon a time such legal dramas at the box office –12 angry men, some good men, judgment, suspect, And any number of movies you’ve seen on TCM have been excellent entertainment. But more than that, they taught a recurring lesson about the dark and slippery nature of reality. Items are rarely what they seem at first glance. Under close scrutiny, “facts” are shaken, testimonies are collected, reasons are revealed, evidence is examined.

This is something that even good reporters find difficult to learn: We all have stories that suddenly seem more obvious than ever. When Hollywood executive José Menéndez and his wife, Kitty, were murdered, I remember teaming up with a colleague and writing a difficult post. Los Angeles times About controversial business connections, some of which may have led to the murders. We’ll never stop thinking about their children, Lily and Eric, who committed crimes for interrelated reasons.

Recently, large numbers of people, including government officials, tech executives, and more need-to-know media types, have become comfortable with confirming and even editing the truth. For an attack, the disinformation board at the Department of Homeland Security, the DGB, which appears to be the demonic spawn of the DMV and KGB, would be ludicrous not to be scary. According to various reports, the council should monitor online reports on Russia, “illegal immigration”, election security and Covid.

But do we really want the government office to be deceived by the facts?

It’s best to make a good courtroom drama to remind us how hard the truth really is. Oscar hasn’t helped much in recent years; Chicago Case 7 He was nominated, but it was about the political circus. Several headlines are likely to emerge between festivals and markets; They may already appear, but I’m still looking for a real legal thriller on the release schedule of the year. The last one I remember seeing in person. MarshallReginald Hadlin’s film about a rape case inflicted by the young Turgud Marshall, the future judge of the Supreme Court.

It was the perfect example of a genre. Throughout the movie, he wasn’t sure whether a black chauffeur or his white employer was telling the truth about a meeting that seemed to have ended when he was thrown off the bridge. Apparently he had all the evidence. It was revealed that he lied when he claimed that he had never had sex with a woman. The “Simplicity” decision was ultimately made by a white Southern female jury chief who was willing to go the other way.

Marshall There was a great lesson in the complex nature of things. And we can use a similar film right now.